Me Van Helsing You Mina
by the one who conquers
Summary: After a notorious group of vampires is wiped out by unkown circumstances, a young vampire hunter flies solo to solve the mystery of the one whom vampire hunters and vampires alike call the Bride of Dracula. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**_This is really a story about the expansion of the Van Helsing family. Now, I don't own the Van Helsing character and you may think that some of the elements to this story are similar to the movie BLADE, but I hope that you'll disregard this and enjoy it either way._  
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**Chapter 1**

Los Angeles, California, 11:45 pm, July 15th 2005. I, together with a handful of hunters closed in on our chosen target. My name is Anna Van Helsing, a proud member of the Van Helsing Clan. The Van Helsing Clan is a group that keeps surveillance and kills a breed of creatures known as vampires. Vampires are unique in every way. They were an undead lot that grab hold of humans and feed upon the blood that ran through their veins. Any human that is killed by a vampire would die in turn become a vampire. Vampires would prowl around the night searching for any pathetic human. I've seen these things jump buildings, run up walls, run at high speed and punch through brick walls. They have dead pale, chalky skin and long fangs. They are immortal, some being able to live up to 500 years. Vampires make full use of their amazing powers during the night, but at day they lose their powers and blend within the human population. The Van Helsing Clan and I made ways of identifying vampires when they made cover among the humans using special goggles. Red means human and blue means vampire. The red represents human body heat and blue shows low body temperature. Vampires don't have body heat that's why they are identified as blue. As much as I hate these things, I have great respect for them. Vampires have been around for years and they can reach heights no other human can. Humans were here just to fill in an empty space and when the time comes we're outta here.

The birth of the Van Helsing Clan goes as far back to an ordinary professor named Abraham Van Helsing. He was called upon to hunt down and kill one known as the lord of all vampires, Count Dracula. Van Helsing did his homework when it came to developing ways to take down a vampire. He learned that the vampire's greatest flaw was that it was weak against the holy cross, holy water, garlic and a stake through the heart. Count Dracula, however, was powerful against all these techniques. He was killed when a Bowie knife was driven in his heart. Years passed when Dracula was killed and Abraham Van Helsing died peacefully at the age of 92. He was survived by his only son Alexander Van Helsing. During Alexander's youth the world was becoming infested by vampires. He was unaware of their existence until a vampire took the life of his first love. From that moment on Alexander led a one man campaign to rid the world of a big thorn in the ass these things were. He became married and had three children. Alexander passed onto his children a goal to ensure that the world is at peace, free from the creatures of darkness. From there the Van Helsing Clan began. Over the years as the number of vampires grew on the earth, so did the Van Helsing Clan. Abraham Van Helsing once said that the vampire's great strength laid upon the disbelief of its existence from the humans. In order to gain the upper hand, the Clan operated in secret, monitoring the vampire's movement among the humans, then closing in on him and taking him out. Over the years the Clan developed a new strategy in killing vampires. It was discovered that vampires were extremely weak against a substance called silver nitrate. Over the years wooden stakes were replaced by stakes made out of silver nitrate. Silver nitrate would later be developed into bullets for guns making it faster to take out vampires.

Vampires nowadays no longer hide like a bunch of pussies in haunted houses and coffins. They're everywhere, the first person you meet when you walk out your house, the CEO of a major company, the cop taking down the lawbreakers, the senator you voted for, the friend you talk to for countless hours on the phone, your school teacher, your mother, your father, your brother, sister, husband, wife, child. The tragedy is nobody even knows. Nobody watches their own back, except us, the Clan. We got Mankind's back. We're not the only slayers around. There are about 150 vampire hunting groups in North America, Central and South America, Europe (this part of the world is the worse because most if not all of these guys don't believe in Jesus), Central America and Central Asia. Sorry to disappoint you, but I won't give you all the names. However, I can tell you that the Van Helsing Clan was assisted by a group called Category 5 when we descended upon our target in downtown, L.A. The Clan makes most of our weapons and equipment, but we also get help from another group called En El Diablo.

My journey began when I was only ten when my father's true colors were shown. His name was Eric Van Helsing. My mother, Hannah, died before I got to know her. I was only two at the time. I was under the guidance of my dad and my big brother Daniel (also called Danny) from that moment on. Dad tried to bring up Danny, who was ten years older than me, and I in a normal life, but there were things about him that were strange every day I knew. We live lived in a quiet suburb in San Diego, Dad worked in a steel mill, or he said at the time. Dad would always come home looking tense and tired. Whenever he came home he would always look through the windows and ask me and Danny if we were okay and if anything bad happened for the day. One night I saw Dad on a limp. He said that he twisted an ankle but I happen to stumble over some clothes and I saw blood. One day when I was ten it happened. My uncle Peter came to my house and said that Dad died in a car accident. I was devastated. My whole world came crashing down. The man I knew as Dad who always looked out for me, who never let me out of his sight and who taught me to live my life in a descent manner and who would know as my true love would never come home to me again. Dad left me nothing but his last words before he walked out the door one last time. "Anna," he said "I want you to know that this world you live in is not about the kids you play with at school or the birthday parties you celebrate or the Christmas carols you always sing when the time comes only once a year. This world is not a happy place at all. There are many things out there that will bring you down and there will many times when you won't live to see another day. You'll understand when you get older, but now I want you to remember wherever, whenever go, each step you take, always watch you back. You have to be strong because that happy-go-lucky world that you're familiar with is nothing but lie. This world lies all the time. And also remember to give a helping hand to anybody because their eyes aren't open to the truth. I know because I live it everyday, so remember that, you and your brother."

Three years would pass when I reached the thirteenth year of my time on earth. With Dad gone I was now under the care of Danny. Danny took up the job of a construction worker while I tried to put some sense in my head at high school. It was only a matter of time when I started to lose my brother, the only family I had. He never talked to me as much except when it was time for me to go to school. We were never this far apart when Dad lived. Danny would always come home late and he would be the same way Dad was: tired and tense. At first I thought it was because of the nights he would spend as a musician at a club downtown. But I knew for a fact that pulling guitar strings could never drain out that much energy. He didn't take his eyes of me for one second, like he was pissed off at me because things between us weren't all peaches n' cream. I know as my big brother he had a responsibility to look over me, but God, it was too much! At school there weren't so many people who I would call friends. There was this young girl who I would wish to call sister. Her name was Karin. She was a free spirit, she never had a bad outlook on life, always lived life to the fullest and she encouraged me to do the same. I always hated walking into the hallways because there were people who would always stare me down. I never had fights with these people, but I just didn't know why the fuck they won't take their eyes of me. One night I was on my way home after visiting Karin's house and Karin agreed to walk me home. We were about a mile away from my house when all of a sudden we both heard this deep whooshing sound. We kept looking up into the air and every time there was a whoosh we turned our heads into the direction of the sound, but there was nothing. Then I felt a violent push on my back which sent me flying across the street. I landed on the flat pitch carpet in pain and then I heard Karin let out a scream so terrible my heart just stopped. When I turned around I saw Karin lying lifeless in the arms of a girl. The girl's mouth was on Karin's neck and she raised her head and blood was dripping from her mouth. The girl's skin was pale, her eyes were yellow and she bore two long fangs. This girl looked familiar. She was the quiet one everyone picked on in school and who was called a crazy ass bitch. Her name was Samantha Grey. I knew something was strange about her when I first saw her. Samantha was a girl always to herself, she hardly spoke a word, but she looked descent enough. I wanted to be her friend but seeing her just made my skin crawled. She was one of the people that wouldn't take their eyes off me. One day I bumped into her and held unto her hand and it was icy cold. I could remember one thing she said to Karin when Karin teased her one day. "Life's short, sister," Samantha said in her usually soft-spoken voice. "People like you don't last very long. Your way of looking down on people, lying and stealing is the reason why you shouldn't exist. None of you deserve to live on this earth." After those words Karin said she was full of shit but for some reason or the other I took Samantha's very seriously. Looking at Samantha that night it didn't take me long to realize that she killed Karin. She then hissed at me and jumped away holding Karin in her arms and in terror I ran as fast I could on my way home.

I rushed through the door of my house screaming and crying. Danny, already home, came to my side and asked me what happened. I hesitated at first then I hysterically gave details of my encounter. The following day Danny told me to round up my stuff and get ready to move out the neighborhood. I thought he made the right decision, especially because of what happened the night before. We packed our personal belongings, hopped in Danny's car and drove of to Uncle Pete's apartment in Los Angeles. While there Danny told Uncle Pete what happened to me and then Uncle Pete asked Danny something about a mission he was supposed to do three weeks prior. Danny told Uncle Pete that the "mission" was a success and that he took out three of the five "targets". "What the hell are these guys talking about?" I thought. Then they turned to me and Uncle Pete said "It's no use hiding it now, Danny." Uncle Pete then told me that the girl who killed Karin, Samantha Grey, was a vampire. He said that vampires were real and that they were attending my school. I found it hard to believe what Uncle Pete was saying. These things that were made famous in books for years were really walking among us. Uncle Pete then started to talk about Dad. He said that Dad was a member of a group that hunted the vampires and that he was doing it for 25 years. Uncle Pete said that Dad didn't die in a car accident like he once said. Dad was killed on a mission to take out a vampire clan. Dad's last wish was for Danny to pick up where he left back and for me not to know anything about it. The time when Danny left with Uncle Pete ten months after Dad died was the beginning of Danny's training. Uncle Pete and Danny revealed that they were part of the Van Helsing Clan, the group Dad belonged to. Seeing that I was exposed to the same thing Dad warned me about, Uncle Pete said it was time for me to "take up the cross."

I began my training as a new member of the Van Helsing Clan at age 14. My training involved the use of many weapons and in martial arts. I was trained to understand and identify a vampire and I killed my first vampire at the age of 15. My target was a member of the Young Knights society, a vampire clan that was involved in the kidnapping and trafficking of humans to other vampires across the U.S. As I grew I became more skilled and wise about the world I lived. I have to admit I never wanted to have something this at first. I didn't ask for this honor. Uncle Pete told me what Dad told him once. "Anna is my whole world," Dad said. "I don't want my baby having to live in fear all her life. Not being able to open her eyes to sun everyday. If Anna should find out anything about me I want her to stand on her own two feet and always be ready because I can't live with the fact that she could die in this world. I'm trying my best now, but I want Anna to do better than me, much better." Those words will always live in me now because I want to survive not only for myself but to fulfill Dad's dying wish.

Back to my mission in downtown L.A. The night before I celebrated my seventeenth birthday and that night Danny and I were together with members of the vampire hunters Category 5 were planning to take out our chosen target in an undisclosed location in L.AWe were prepped by Category 5's leader Ethan Fanning, who was veteran compared to us who much younger. He hunted vampires since he was only twelve and the time of our next mission he was 50. The bald-headed founder of Category 5 told us that our target was the leader of the 300 year old Brothers of Dusk clan named Jacob Wallace. Jacob Wallace was believed to be meeting with vampire elders at a night club called The Apocalypse that night. Fanning drew out a map of the chosen target. "I want you to look at this real good," said Fanning. "Any mistakes will give away the mission totally." The plan was made up of five teams. Two snipers, Cell 1 and Cell 2, and three other teams, Code Yellow, Code Orange and Code Red, to move on foot. Cell 1 would take up position outside The Apocalypse and take out the two door men while Code Yellow, which involved Danny and I moved in. If Code Yellow failed then Code Orange, who would take up position inside on the dance floor and Cell 2 who would take up position on the empty balcony, will move in on the target. If Code Orange failed, Code Red, who would take up position in the back, would move in if the target made any attempt to escape. "Now this mission shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to complete," Fanning said. I yawned all the while because of the long day I had: at the steel mill where I worked, training at the dojo and being awakened from a deep sleep to get ready for this mission. After three years on this team I still couldn't keep up. "Now we gotta make the best of it," said Fanning. "We will get this done before our cover blows and before the place starts crawling with cops. Remember what's at stake here: the human race's existence as we know it. We can't let these motherfuckers gain the upper hand here, guys. Alright, let's go!"

Danny and I, together with the members of Category 5 rounded up our weapons in preparation for our raid. We all gathered our weapons and loaded them with magazine clips filled with silver nitrate bullets. The nine of the 140 members of Category 5 carried Heckler and Koch MP 5 K submachine guns and Smith & Wesson and Glock pistols. Danny and I carried our own H & K MP 5 Ks but Danny also carried a Desert Eagle pistol and I carried two Heckler and Koch USP pistols. We also carried silver stakes. Our line of communication was through headsets and ear pieces. Fanning and his team jumped into their van and Danny and I soon followed in Danny's car on our way to our final destination: The Apocalypse.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Vampire hunters Anna Van Helsing and her big brother Danny together with Ethan Fanning and Category 5 are off to the night club called the Apocalypse to take down Jacob Wallace, the leader of the vampire clan Brothers of Dusk, but seventeen year old Anna is about to learn that nothing, absolutely nothing will come easy on this night. _**

**Chapter 2 **

The night sky, streetlights, buildings that kiss the sky, they all have a home on this night in downtown L.A. At my left there's Danny focused on our lead, Category 5 driving in front of us. At my right there's faith and doubt as I look at those who prance on the sidewalk. Those who walk the dog, those who take the bus or drive down lonely roads on their way to their cribs, those who hold each others' hand and kiss in the name of love, those who gain an easy hand in hustling and in prostitution and those who make a last minute effort to sell, sell, sell. Assholes, do they really think I'm stupid? They wear nothing but masks. They try their best to gain trust when they give themselves to the world, but when nobody's looking they try steal from people the thing they call life. As I look out my window I'm sure that there's a vampire out there sucking on somebody's neck, that there's a victim who's getting cold minute by minute and that there's one son of bitch who's calling it a day and waiting steal the next victim. There's one thing I gotta disagree with Samantha Grey, if she's out there: us humans are not the ones lying, stealing and trying to gain the seat of power. Sometimes I get paranoid, because most, if not all off earth's pretty faces are against me. Paranoia is not so bad once you get used to it, it could save your life in the long run.

After a forty minute drive and stopping at the red light and going at the green light we finally made it to our target: The Apocalypse. Our leader for the night, Ethan Fanning, said we would go on a stakeout waiting for our prey, 432 year old Jacob Wallace. Danny and I waited in our car a block away from the party house and Fanning and his team waited in their van just across the street near the club. As we waited Danny opened a pack of cigarettes, placed one between his lips and lit it. "Still sucking on those death sticks?" I said.

"Fuck off," Danny said. It was about half-past midnight when I looked ahead and saw three black SUVs pull up in front of the club. The door of the first SUV opened and out stepped the head of Wallace's personal security, Hannah Edwards, age 214. The other doors opened and out came four other members of Edwards' security staff. They were all dressed in black and with boots on their feet. The doors of the last SUV opened and three members of the Brothers of Dusk clan stepped out. They were Marcus Moore, age 302, Timothy Hawke, 194 and Karl Morris, 102. The doors of the SUV in the centre opened out came Wallace's chosen successor, his brother Issac. Joining him were two more members of the security team and a girl dressed in all black, Wallace's personal bodyguard, Dae Joo-Eun, age 70. The Brothers of Dusk picked her up when she lost everything in the second year of the Korean War, her family, her home, and her future; she was seventeen at the time. Quite a big entourage for somebody who's not Michael Jackson. When you you're studying the enemy information about the rest of the family comes in handy. The last person to step out of the SUV was the big man himself, Jacob Wallace dressed in a long black trench coat. Wallace and his crew walked through the doorway when Fanning gave us the call through our earpieces. "That's our que, guys," he said. "Let's roll." We all cocked our weapons and fell into our respected teams. Danny and I formed Code Yellow. The nine members of Category 5 fell also formed their posts. They included snipers Juan Perez and Tim Murdoch of Cell 1 and Cell 2, Steve Paris, Joel Nelson and Jason Tyler of Code Orange and Carlos Rodriguez, Jose Del Toro, Matt Price and Casey Smith formed Code Red. Sitting in our car we saw the club's doormen in black suddenly drop with their flesh turning into ash and their bones turning into dust. Through our earpieces Perez gave us in Spanish the signal to move in. Dressed in our long black trench coats, Danny and I calmly walked through the door ready to crash a party.

Danny and I stepped in and the sound of dance music blasted through our ears. I looked around and there they were. Dancers littered across the floor, partying hard without a care in the world. "Exercise caution," Fanning said through our earpieces. "This place is crawling with them."

"Like, duh," I thought. "Who can blame the vampires if they wanna party all night long." The crowd was getting thicker by the moment. It was hard for me to keep up with Danny, who was at my left. Left to right it was easy to confuse a vampire with a human, especially with the blinking lights. Danny suddenly came into view, he looked at me then turned his away. Straight ahead I saw the members of Code Orange: Paris, Nelson and Tyler. They came in before us to monitor the situation and if something went down they would make their move. As Danny and I pushed further into the crowd this shitty club music got louder. We then spotted our first two targets: two members of Wallace's personal security team dressed in black. I took the black one and Danny took the white one. I raised my arms and grabbed the huge man from the back, pulled out my combat knife and slit his throat. In an instant I felt his cold blood all over my hands. Danny grabbed the guard at the left and broke his neck and left his body to drop on the floor like a sack of flour. Danny and I then walked away calmly leaving our two victims behind. Walking through wall after wall of lame-ass dancers I looked at my right and saw two women biting from the neck and the wrist of a man that appeared to be a human. I shook my head sadly and kept moving on.

I looked ahead and there he was. Jacob Wallace sitting down in a booth, talking and laughing with some of his loyal followers and the supposed elders he was meeting with. A bimbo with surgically enhanced breasts sat on Wallace's lap with a glass of champagne in her right hand. Typical gigolos the male vampires are. The other members of Wallace's personal security surrounded the booth with radio earpieces on the left side of their faces. This was it, the moment of truth. My heart pounded as the moment approached. Danny and I looked at each and reached into his trench coat. I did the same as well. Hannah Edwards who was in the middle happened to spot me, then my breath was sucked out of my body as we both looked at each other eyeball to eyeball. I quickly fumbled into my coat and sensing danger Edwards alerted the rest of the security team and they all pulled out Heckler and Koch UMP 45 submachine guns and started firing.

I ran for cover, so did Danny, and the other dancers in the club tried frantically to escape. I took cover behind a pillar and finally pulled out my H&K MP 5 K submachine gun and traded fire with the security team. Danny took cover behind the bar tenders table and started firing as well. Music was still blaring as we engaged with the guys in black. In a distance I could see Wallace, his brother and three members of the vampire elders jumping out of their seat and making a run for it. "Shit!" I thought. I looked at my right where the bartender's table was and saw Danny trading fire then ducking as bullets blasted away, destroying pieces of the table and all of the expensive wine and champagne glasses. I then looked to my left and saw Paris, Nelson and Tyler pushing their way through screaming bystanders and joining in the fight. I looked from behind the pillar and fired at the security team taking out one of them. As bullets entered his body they made burning holes and he fell to the ground with his skin turning to ash and his bones turning to dust. I looked again and saw the three members of the Brothers of Dusk: Moore, Hawke and Morris firing from SIG Sauer P245 pistols. They joined the fight. I looked over to Code Orange and I saw Paris go down. He took a shot to the leg. Bullets were chipping away at my pillar and the strong smell of gun powder burned my nostrils. I rolled across the floor and fired away and took out two more. Edwards, Moore, Hawke, Morris and two remaining security members took cover behind some tables and chairs and fired at Code Orange's position and saw a gapping hole suddenly appearing in Tyler's forehead and the back of his head exploding. He then fell back limp on the floor. He took one in the head. My H&K MP 5K was soon out of ammo. I reached in my back and pulled out my two Heckler and Koch USP pistols and fired away at the opposing position, taking cover behind some tables and chairs. I looked at my right and saw Danny firing from his Desert Eagle pistol. I got up and fired away from my two handguns killing Edwards. I saw her drop leaving ashes and dust flying into the air upon impact. Danny rolled across the floor firing away killing the last of Wallace's personal security. He soon joined Nelson's position. I kept on firing at the opposing post and at their right I saw in a distance an EXIT. I thought this was my chance to catch Wallace before he escaped. I took off my coat and ran straight for the EXIT firing away at the opposing post as furniture and debris exploded behind me. I could hear Danny screaming for me to come back, but I didn't budge. I just kept on running.

I came to an empty room where all the whines and glasses were kept, far from the firefight. I turned my body in every direction along with one of my guns, getting ready for anything that was in store. Suddenly a figure dropped in front of me and rose slowly. It had long black hair, yellow eyes and extremely pale skin. It hissed at me showing two long fangs. It was Dae Joo-Eun. I pointed my gun at her, but she kicked it away from my hand and struck me in my chest with her palm. I fell to the ground holding my chest in pain. I got and ran towards and from there we both engaged in hand to hand combat. I punched her on both sides of her face but it didn't seem to affect her. I then made an aim to kick her in her chest but she held onto my foot and onto my clothes and threw me across the room. I was sent slamming into the wall, then falling onto the floor. I got up and engaged with Joo-Eun, punching her in the abdomen several times and then doing a spinning jump kick in her face all in an attempt to bring her down. Yet, all of my efforts were in vain. Joo-Eun kicked me in the stomach and then kicked me in the back. I fell to the ground in pain and as she approached me I got up to punch her. Suddenly I felt her take my fist with a firm grip. I could feel every bone in my arm breaking as she brought me down and my eyes focused on her beautiful, glowing, golden eyes, then, without warning, she head-butted me. I held onto my nose and looked at my hands and saw red. She broke my nose! I charged against the Korean throwing punches and kicks, but she was blocking all of them. Joo-Eun struck me with a double dose of what I was giving her, then she swung her heel into my left cheek which got me on the ground again. Great, I think she broke my jaw too. I slowly looked up to Joo-Eun with blood running from my mouth, then she placed her palm on my face and started to lift me up. Through her long, clawed fingers I realized I was now looking down at Joo-Eun, who held me with one hand, and I felt both of my feet off the ground. Joo-Eun soon folded her fist, pulled it back and struck me one blow in my ribs which sent me flying across the room and slamming into a wall. I just laid on the floor, unable to get up, probably a broken rib, with blood running from my nose and my mouth. Shit, I forget how strong these motherfuckers are. I looked to my left and saw Joo-Eun walking slowly towards me. I slowly began to sit up, unable to continue fighting or even run. Suddenly Joo-Eun was all over me with her hands tight, I couldn't break free. She then smiled showing her white fangs and slowly reached for my neck. I started to reach for my sides as Joo-Eun's cold breath touched my neck. I finally found what I was feeling for and drove it through Joo-Eun's chest. Joo-Eun released me and screamed a deafening scream and looked down to see a silver stake in her chest and through her back. She screamed again as her skin slowly turned to ash and she feel down leaving her bones to turn to dust. At that moment I knew it was lights out for Dae Joo-Eun.

I slowly got up with my hands on my ribs and headed straight for a hallway which led me to another EXIT. As I opened the door the sound of gunfire blasted through my ears. Code Red was engaging Wallace and his cronies in the alley. I looked to my right and saw Rodriguez lying in a pool of blood with five gunshot wounds. Suddenly I heard the sound of tires screeching and I turned to see a black SUV speeding away. Wallace was getting away. Thinking I can't allow this mission to be fucked up I quickly looked around and saw a motorcycle parking at the side of Code Red's position. I ran past them, picked up Rodriquez's H&K MP 5K submachine gun, hopped on the bike and sped away. I was right on Wallace's ass when I heard "Annie, what the fuck are you doing!" through my earpiece. It was Fanning. "Annie, you're gonna fuck this one up for the whole team. Stop…" Before he could finish I pulled out the earpiece out of my ear and focused instead on the pursuit.

My bike was close enough to the SUV when suddenly a blast from an H&K MP 5K fired into my position. I fired away from my H&K MP 5K and took out the shooter. The burning ash from his body was soon sent flying into face. Soon fire from H&K MP 5K and a SIG Sauer P245 pistol was coming out of the SUV. Wallace's brother Issac, who was armed with an H&K MP 5K, fired at me which forced me to ride my bike away to avoid fire. I soon traded fire with them my weapon in the high speed chase. My bullets destroyed the back window of the SUV and left bullet holes at the sides. Issac fired at me destroying the windows of cars nearby. I soon saw him go back in to reload and left one crony to fire away at me with his SIG Sauer P245 on the other side of the SUV in an $800 suit. I took that one out then Issac came back out the window and fired at me again and I found myself trading fire with him once again. I was close up to the SUV when I suddenly developed a quick strategy. I turned on the other side and started firing at the SUV in a circular motion, destroying every window and leaving multiple bullet holes. I managed to take out the driver and Issac in the whole fiasco. I stopped my bike and watched the huge van starting to flip down the road and suddenly stopping. The SUV landed upside down leaving one door wide open. I threw away my empty H&K MP 5K and rode to the doomed vehicle. I stopped my bike meters away, got off and walked slowly to the SUV. I stopped at the door and started to squat down to look inside. Suddenly I felt a burning sensation on the right side of my abdomen. I held onto my abdomen with my right and fell back, then I looked at my right hand and saw blood. I then looked at the SUV and a saw a white haired pale man stepping out. It was Jacob Wallace armed with a Walther P99 pistol mounted with a silencer pointing right at me. I looked into his wrinkled eyes and saw yellow and I looked at his face and saw a smirk. I then looked at his Walther P99 and saw his index finger slowly pulling the trigger. Suddenly, about seven shots rang out and I saw Wallace fall to the ground with the gun still in his hand and with his skin turning to ash and his bones turning to dust. I laid on the ground with my right hand on my abdomen and right there I knew I was shot. Then looking to my left I saw my Heckler and Koch USP pistol smoking. I just put the leader of the Brothers of Dusk out of his misery.

I laid back my head, thinking about the terrible way my life was going to end. I started to feel cold when suddenly I turned to my left and saw two lights approaching me. It was a van that pulled up at the side of me. The doors open and there was Danny and Fanning. They picked me up and carried me into the van and we all drove off. "Willie, we gotta get to Brent (Category 5's medic) fast," said Fanning to the van's driver.

"You're gonna be alright, Annie. Just hold on," said Danny holding unto my hand. He then whispered "You're very stupid. You're very stupid. You should've never left. Why the fuck did you leave you're post?" I was sure those words weren't supposed to be comforting when my life was hanging on a thread. That was very typical of Danny to freak out like that. I started to feel something shaking in my mouth. It something hard and my tongue felt it sharp at the bottom. I reached for my mouth and tried to reach where my tongue was feeling. My finger tips felt the hard object on the left side of my jaw and I started to pull. All of a sudden I felt pain. The more I pulled the more the pain was unbearable. I made one last pull and finally the hard object was free. I slowly pulled it out of my mouth, raised it up and looked at it. It was a tooth. I immediately thought of my fight with Dae Joo-Eun. "Bitch," I thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A month after The Apocalypse nightclub shoot-out, Anna Van Helsing has fully recovered from her injuries. It would be only a matter of time before she is called upon once again to handle a well known sect of a vicious vampire clan. To Anna it's just another night, but this clan would soon fall. The morbid thing about it is it would not be Anna or her allies' doing. You may think that there are inconsistencies with the addresses. Don't blame me, I don't live in Los Angeles. _**

**Chapter 3 **

August 11th, nearly a month would past when I could finally pick myself up and get on with my life. My wounds and broken bones from The Apocalypse nightclub raid have all been healed. The only thing I've lost was one jaw tooth. That night with Danny and Ethan Fanning together with nine members of his team Category 5, two were lost, Jason Tyler, 21 and Carlos Rodriguez, 32. The overall mission to take out the leader of the Brothers of Dusk vampire clan, however, was a success. Jacob Wallace and his whole entourage that night were all wiped out. I'm sure the team leader, Fanning, was pretty pissed off about me leaving my post to go after Wallace. Thank God he was too concerned about me staying alive to go after my throat. I personally think that if it wasn't for me Wallace would've been still running the show doing wild shit.

Today I just arrived at the dojo after a long day at the steel mill. It was particularly important for me to come in order for me to get all the troubles of work off my mind. My supervisor would always be on my ass. The main reason is for laying down on "important foundations and principles". Hey, I get tired too, and most of the time I take the heat for other employees' fuck ups. It's just unfair. In my sweat top and track pants I spar with my partners, lift the weights and beat the shit out of the sand bang. The sand bang is my favorite because I could always take out all my pain, all my stress and all my anguish on this one bag. As I start to punch and kick the bag I looked back on my life as a vampire hunter. The Van Helsing Clan does not have one central chain of command like other vampire hunting groups do, but it wasn't always like this. During the early days of the Cold War the last leader of the Clan was Richard Van Helsing. The Van Helsing Clan had separate cells around the world with each leader attached to them. At that time the FBI and the CIA was onto anybody that was deemed communist or Anti-American. In 1955 Richard's law office was bugged by the Feds during a meeting with some Clan members on a mission to take out a well known member of the San Francisco city council who was suspected of running a secret vampire clan. He was arrested and sentenced to three life consecutive life terms in a federal prison. Other members of the Clan who stayed low dispersed and never established one man to run the whole group. Global Van Helsing cells also broke apart to avoid detection by various intelligence outlets. From that moment on Van Helsing Clan always stayed apart from each other and never had one base of operations. When we had to our jobs we always worked with other vampire hunting clans. Nowadays it's become more difficult to prevent our cover from blowing, especially after 9/11.

I started to think about the freedoms that this life had taken away from me. Danny and I had been apart ever since I took up this burden. I wish I was given a chance to really know my flesh and blood. I wish that we would be normal brother and sister, that he would be the first one to come to protect me. I wish that I would be able to learn life from his point of view since he's older than me. He would be able to tell me what I should go for and what I shouldn't go for. All my life I wish to be given respect for who I was and I personally thought Danny would show me how to gain that respect because as much as I could remember many people in the neighborhood respected him, even when he wasn't the father. We had our fights, every body does, but I knew deep, deep inside he loved me and he would've never allowed anything to happen to me. It's been only fifteen years we lived together and I wish I was given more time to really form that personal bond siblings are supposed to develop. The life of a vampire hunter stopped me from doing so. With that thought I give the sand bang hard kicks.

I started to think about what life would be like for me if I hadn't started killing blood suckers almost 24/7. I would've lived the life of a normal girl or probably a woman. I would've had more than one friend. We would've hanged out, talk about how much we thought our parents sucked and what our love interests were. I would've had boyfriends. I would've tried to look into his heart and really see what was his dreams, his aspirations, his fears and I would've tried my best to see in what way I contributed to such things and how I should make it better for him. I would've wanted to him to know what my dreams and aspirations were and I would've wanted him to help in some way. I would've also had my first and last kiss. I would've stayed more than just a year in high school. I would've seen what was it really like to live the teen years through all perspectives and I would've come to my own conclusions. I would've stayed in school to get education and probably move on to college and I would've gotten a descent job. I would've found the right man and we would've raised kids. I would've done my part to make sure my kids lived a normal, happy life. The life of a vampire hunter has dashed away all the dreams and when I thought about it I gave the sand band a fast, hard combination of kicks and punches.

I then began to think about what the life of a vampire hunter had done for me. I can no longer live a normal life. I'm always living in fair and it's not the fair of terrorism. The fear of terrorism is nothing compared to what I have to go through every day. I can longer trust a smiling face or a helping hand. To me nothing that comes out of a person's mouth is the truth. There is no safe place on this blue planet. They're everywhere. It's totally amazing how vampires could get every profession and rise up through the ranks. They use these professions to further enhance their greatest desire: world domination. They always see humans as weak and incapable and they're willing to prove their point by any means necessary. In this post-9/11 world it's become easier for the vampires to run everything. Intelligence outlets are after the wrong people. I can't depend on them to take over for me. They can't deal with something that looks human and that has been around for generations just living off the blood that runs through a man's veins. I'm sure the vampires are running the show at the FBI and the CIA. I'm sure they are among the ones that control both houses of the U.S. helping to deny certain members of the human race their freedoms and I know goddamn well they are helping the current ruling class of citizens in bringing down anyone who disagrees with the White House. They could be the ones advocating military invasions of certain countries suspected of supporting and harboring terrorism. They don't really care for the safety of this country. Preemptive strikes on terrorist nations are working well to their advantage of ruling the world as a whole. I'm sure they are among the ones trying to wipe God off the face of my country. If the vampires keep this up they could turn this world into their own playground.

I think about how there can be nothing about life that I can refer to as positive. I can't say that there's nothing wrong with the world or that everything's gonna be all right. I would only be lying to myself if I was to think something like that. I also think about how can never walk the streets without thinking that there could be a vampire watching me at that very moment. I could never look forward to a brighter day. I always have to watch my back because there could never be a time when I could feel safe. I could die any moment. I have the live with the fact that some total stranger has been killed by a vampire. No matter how hard I try I could never know why I have to have someone else's death on my conscience. Every time I think about it I feel like a total failure. I feel like I failed to save an innocent human or failed to stop a vampire from gaining the upper hand. I always have the thought that if I fail the human race fails. With all these thoughts I began kicking and punching the sand bag at a fast past. With every blow the sand bag sunk in despite my small build. I punched and kicked, punched and kicked, punched and kicked until I could punch and kick no more then I bended my back and tried to catch my breath. I'm exhausted both physically and mentally. My perspiration is a mixture of my physical activity and my personal thoughts. It was my thoughts that really drained me out. As a teen I shouldn't be experiencing this. I don't wanna feel like this anymore. I'm not 21. But what can I say? Shit happens. After catching my breath I straightened my back, wiped myself up and left the dojo.

At my small apartment, I entered the door threw all my equipment and smelly clothes in a corner and headed for the shower. I stepped in the shower with my body on fire from a hard day's work and a long time spent at the dojo. I slowly turned on the shower and I felt drops of water rapidly falling upon my body. The moment I felt that water touch my skin I just felt cool all over. I started rubbing myself, suddenly my finger touched a spot that was terribly familiar. It was the scar of the bullet wound I got a month earlier. This was a scar that brought back a horrible memory. I remembered the hot pursuit I was on going after Jacob Wallace. I managed to take out those who were defending the SUV he was driving in and caused it to flip over. I could remember walking over to the wreckage calmly after thinking all the occupants were dead. I could remember the moment I started to squat down I felt something enter my body and exploded. I could remember falling backwards, holding unto my abdomen. My stomach was on fire and I could feel the area where I was holding on just sizzling, literally. The moment I saw red on my palm, it didn't take my long to realize it was my own blood and that I was shot. That was the first time I experienced something like that and hope that it will be the last fucking time.

Upon finishing my shower I dressed myself in new clothes and started drying my hair. Suddenly I heard soft, deep beeping coming from the living room. It was the special headset I used to communicate with Danny. I rushed to the living room, picked up the headset, placed it on my head and pressed the small button to communicate. "Talk to me, bro," I said.

"Listen, Annie," said Danny. "Something new came up. You and I are gonna be riding with the Night's Arrow. They've got hard evidence on a group belonging to Damien's Hand. Met me at the Olympic Boulevard at 20:00 hours."

Taking a cab to Olympic Boulevard, I arrived at the sight of a black van. The back of the van opened and there was Danny summoning me to come over. I looked around then ran over and stepped inside. Inside there was the leader of Night's Arrow Jamal Brown and six other members of 212 man group. Danny and I had fought with the forty-two year old African-American and his team twice before and Uncle Pete was close friend of his. Our mission for the night was to take down about six members of Damien's Hand that were meeting in a small club just before West 3rd Street. Damien's Hand was a vampire clan that was around for three centuries and was known for their brutal tactics when it came to hunting down humans. They would pick up anybody from the street and mutilate their bodies in order to extract large amounts of blood. They were really different from any other clan we were onto. We armed ourselves with Heckler and Koch UMP 40 submachine guns mounted with silencers and drove off to our target.

Riding in a crowded, windowless van I looked around only to see hard faces. I looked at my left and there was Brown. I then looked at my right and there was Danny. I just sat there looking at him in his focused position. I didn't know what I should do, if I should talk or just shut up. I sighed and finally said "Y'know, Danny, you and I never talked anymore."

"Really?" Danny said turning to me. "How long has it been?"

"I don't know. Long enough." I said. I then paused. "I don't know who you are anymore, Danny," I said. "I mean, you and I are brother and sister. We should both getting together and talk more. You know. I really didn't wanted talk about this, y'know. This is probably bad timing on my part."

"Mm-hmm?" said Danny.

"Are even listening?"

"Who said I wasn't?"

"Anyway, we should meeting like where we live or on the phone. Our missions shouldn't be the only place we should be seeing each other."

"I see where you're coming from, but you know the risks if we knew each other's residence and personal info."

"Okay." I then turned away and there was silence. "Well, we're here," Danny suddenly said. "What do you really wanna talk about?" I turned to him, stared him in the eye and paused. I couldn't believe I brought up this and now I couldn't say anything. It never really occurred to me. I was used to hardly talking to Danny. I didn't have the words for this once in a lifetime opportunity. "Well," I said. I then paused again. "What are doing right now, huh? I mean, are you married? Got any kids? Can you keep a roof over your head? I'm working at a steel mill. You should know that by now. What're you doing? Where does the money come from?"

"Well," said Danny. "I ain't got a wife and I ain't got a family. The money comes from Wesley's Club where I play lead guitar."

"Oh. I can't believe you're still in that shit."

"You can what you want. Playing there gets all the shit that's around me of my conscience. You think I enjoy doing this? And about the wife and kids, I could their lives in danger with this job and I can't find a woman who could carry on the family name. You know the problem."

"Okay," I said. There was silence again. I had nothing else to say. I started beating myself up. Danny could die some day and I'm gonna regret not carrying on one simple conversation with him. Should the time the time come, what's the point living in this fucked up world?

I stayed still and heard nothing but the van engine and other cars outside. Suddenly I felt the vibration and flying sensation of the van stopped. I looked at my watch and it marked 10:30 pm. We've made it to our target. Brown gave us the order to move out and we dismounted our vehicle, all nine of us. We ran towards the back of the targeted club with our weapons and one of the members of Night's Arrow placed a plastic explosive at the door. He set the time and we all took cover, then bomb went off with a loud thud, blasting open the door. We all rushed inside in single column, and turned on red lasers that was mounted on our weapons. What we found was not six bloodsuckers playing at the pool tables. We found burning ash on the floor and charred spots on all over the floor and the tables. The whole place was vandalized. All the tables and chairs were destroyed and there were huge holes in the walls. It was like kingdom come. Then we all heard painful moans coming from the left side. As we walked closer the moans got louder. We looked around and I saw a man crawling slowly behind a pool table. As I looked at him I saw that both his legs were gone and his body was slowly turning to ash. I thought he was the only could tell us the whole story so I quickly ran towards him before he could go. "Hey!" I said. "What the fuck happened here?" He slowly turned on his back and looked at me with those yellow eyes and half of his chest was nothing but ash and dust. He raised his hand and said slowly "Mina Har…ker." Then I saw the skin on his face burn away and his bones disintegrate into a pile of dust.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Anna Van Helsing, together with Danny and members of the group Night's Arrow raid a nightclub suspecting to house members of the feared vampire clan Damien's Hand. On reaching their target they discover that the place had been ransacked and all the members of Damien's Hand had been killed. They find one survivor who was only able to utter the name Mina Harker. This is a name that would soon appear once again in a next episode_.**

**Chapter 4 **

This is so much bullshit. I can't believe that my chance to relax had to be cut short for nothing. I with Danny, together with Jamal Brown and Night's Arrow drove all the way in downtown L.A. to a nightclub to take down six members of Damien's Hand. We made it to our target, you know. But once we were inside with our silencer, laser mounted H&K UMP 40 submachine guns our chosen targets appeared to be wiped out. Blasting open the door and rushing in there in such a big way? All that shit for nothing. The only survivor was a member of Damien's Hand, whose only information for us was Mina Harker. Who the fuck is Mina Harker? What the fuck does he mean by Mina Harker? Well, whoever this chick is she sure knows how to spoil a good night. You know what I could've been doing if I wasn't called for that shit. Come to think of it, this Harker girl gave us a hand. But that's what really took the fun out of it, I guest. What does this girl think she's doing? Is she crazy going up against vampires like that? Then again, I wonder if she worked alone or had some help. Is she part of a vampire hunting cell that I don't know of? Why should I even give a shit?

I'm spending my last working hour at the steel mill and I'm still thinking about what happened the night before. When you're armed up the wazoo and you're ready for a moment such as last night, it really hits you to find out that the whole thing has to be called off. I can't begin to describe how I felt the night I came home from my mission. Maybe it's best that they didn't call me in the first fucking place. It couldn't be disappointment or anger that I was feeling. Disappointment and anger could never feel so strong. Then again, there's something that really intrigues me about this Mina Harker. I have so many questions about this girl I don't even know where to start. I don't even know what to ask. I try so hard not to think about it, but no matter what I felt it was my personal duty to find out about her. It was like trying to find out about a long lost sister. Maybe she _is_ my sister. Christ, what the fuck am I thinking? Is this girl human? Nobody could ever take down six bloodsuckers in one stroke. Vampires have a way in trapping you. You see one of them and you think he's the only one around, but ten more happen to fall in. This girl probably saw that coming. She probably knows something about them that I don't. As I'm thinking all this, it's quittin' time.

I'm on a bus on the way home when suddenly I felt a vibration in my dirty pocket. I looked around to see if anyone was looking and pulled out my M-1 cricket, another piece of equipment I use to communicate with Danny. I connected an earpiece to it, looked around again and pressed the silver button to communicate. "Listen up," said Danny. "Murdoch needs us at Garvey Avenue. Trust me, you ain't gonna believe this." I placed my M-1 cricket and I thought "He'd better not be bullshitting me."

I took a train and stopped at West 12th Street and walked all the way over to Spring Avenue carrying my Heckler and Koch USP pistol. As I reached there I met Danny and Jeb Murdoch, the leader of Crimson Eclipse. Crimson Eclipse was established about a month after 9/ll and their leader was only twenty five, but Jeb was no rookie. He and his group of only 50 had all the kudos for taking down five vampire leaders already. We were led to a body bag and he unzipped it to reveal the leader of the vampire clan Neo Lunar, Gabriel Heinrich. Blue veins were clearly visible on Heinrich's skin and on his face was totally wrinkled. Heinrich was very handsome for a 300 year old, but now he looked like he was sucked out dry. We've been tracking him down for years and didn't I didn't know who should I give credit to for finally taking him down. "Well, three cheers, Jeb," I said.

"Hey, don't look at me, alright?" Jeb said. "We found him like this. Even though we were onto him I don't think I would ever be capable of doing this." Jeb turned Heinrich's head to the right and revealed two gapping holes in his neck. "I don't think there's any vampire who can suck out the blood of another vampire," said Jeb.

"You're right," said Danny. "That _is_ some weird shit." I looked closely at the marks on Heinrich's neck. They were clearly tooth marks. Yep, it's weird shit alright. What kind of vampire can drink dead blood? Vampires usually drink the blood of a live human being, but Heinrich was no human. How can a vampire suck the blood of its own kind?

Another night has come and Danny and I were being briefed on a new mission. Tonight we're joined by Dick Goldsmith and twelve members of the group Harsh Deliverance. Goldsmith formed the group thirty years prior and this was my fourth mission with him. Our mission was to take down the second in command of the vampire clan Wings of Darkness. There was a meeting on an estate where Louis King, the second in command of Wings of Darkness, and the members of Night Dragons were located. All we had to do was raid King's residence on Beverly Hills and take his ass down. We armed ourselves with Heckler and Koch MP5K and UMP submachine guns and equipped ourselves with radio headsets. We all then hoped in vans and drove to our final destination.

Upon arrival at King's estate we all got out of our vans, dressed in all black and scaled the tall fences. King's house was huge. I wasn't sure we could find this one guy in this big shit hole. Goldsmith and three members of his team went through the back of the house. Six climbed up ladders and went through the windows. Danny and I along with three others went through the front. We expected King's guards to be in front, but there was none in sight. As we ran across the moon-lit grass towards the door I felt something crush under my shoe. I looked down and saw what I thought were just tree branches, but then I raised back my head and focused on the door that I was approaching. Once inside it became very dark as we moved further. We switched on the lights that were mounted on our weapons. We looked to our right and saw a pair of two eyes glowing in the dark. We shone our lights in that direction and saw a member of King's guards point an H&K MP5K at us. We fired away at him leaving him to fall into a pile of ash and dust. Suddenly the lights went on and seven members of King's guards ran out firing their weapons at us. I immediately dropped to the floor and fired away taking out two of them. Danny ran behind a chair and fired a blast taking out one. The other guys that were with us took cover and wasted the last four. Suddenly shots rang out and I turned to the direction of the shots and saw one of our guys, Nick Furlong, dropping dead on the floor with four gunshot wounds. I looked up and saw five guards firing at out position from at the top of a flight of stairs. Furniture began to be destroyed right next to me as the bullets came zipping down. We all fired away at the stairs and took out two guards. We then ran up the stairs and fired shots that took out the last three. We reached the very top and met the charred remains of King's guards.

At the very top there was a long hallway and at the end there was a corner. We all moved together slowly in single file. Cold sweat ran down my face and my heart beat so fast that I couldn't breathe. I looked over the shoulder of our team leader's shoulder, Brit Green, and saw that the hallway was getting smaller. I placed my finger on the trigger of my H&K MP 5K as Brit suddenly stopped and slowly lowered his head to see what was on the other side. Suddenly a piece of the wall chipped away and at an instant Brit pulled away his head and ordered us to fall back. We all turned around and ran as bullets flew over our heads. We didn't know who was firing at us or how many were there because none of us turned around. We dared not to do so, anyway. As we were trying to escape we all discovered that there was another corner so without any options we turned into this corner. In the blink of an eye we met another hallway with three doors on each side. At the same time rapid gunfire was still on our asses and it grew louder. Running down this long corridor we were shocked to find out that there was another corner, in fact, there were two corners, one on the left and one on the right. We took the right corner and this led us to another fucking hallway! Brit ordered us to stop the moment reached on the side and told us to fire at anything that was coming through the corridor that we ran through. We all lined up and took a peek and saw six guards running down firing like fucking crazy. Brit bent down with one knee on the ground and turned to the corner and fired a blast from his silencer mounted H&K UMP into the corridor. "Got two already," he said pulling back his head. He lowered his head into the corner again. I followed but Danny and a third team member, Jack Ivory, stayed behind. My eyes were creeping to the corner when all of a sudden I saw a bright flash and I quickly pulled away. Brit did the same as well and pieces of the wall began chipping away at a fast past. "They're in the rooms," said Brit reloading his weapon "Three on the right, one on the left."

"Really?" I thought. "I didn't see shit." Brit then ran across on the other side and knelt down having his eyes focused on the opposing force. "What the fuck is he doing?" I thought. "He can't leave us hanging like this." I looked at Danny and it looked like he couldn't believe it either. He turned slowly and fired away into the hallway then turned back quickly. "I dropped one," he said with his eyes still fixed on the hallway. Bullets soon began chipping away on his side of the wall. Danny, Jack and I began firing away at the guards post. Danny stayed standing up, Jack knelt down and I was firing away on my stomach. In the corner of my eye I saw three guards cramped up in a doorway dressed in black firing from H&K MP 5 and H&K MP 5 K submachine guns. We all traded fire and took cover as the concrete walls were destroyed by bullets. I began squinting my face with every flash of my weapon and bullet flew at the wall. I crawled slowly and aimed my weapon at the doorway where the guards were. I could see the guards just firing away without any care in the world. One was kneeling down, the other was standing up and another was firing from right behind him. Suddenly I had a blurred vision of the one that was firing from behind the standing guard suddenly stopping and reloading his H&K MP 5K. I took this opportunity to finally take down one of them. I carefully aimed my H&K MP 5K at the black vampire guard who slipped in a new magazine clip and fired away at him. I saw him drop to the floor and turn to ash and dust. "I got one!" I said, but no one was really listening to me. We all just kept trading fire. I suddenly saw another guard fall into a pile of ash and dust. I didn't know what bullet he fell victim to and by whom. Danny suddenly appeared clearly in the guard's view. I watched in horror as he started to fire away with half his body exposed. The guard suddenly fell back as if wounded and Danny ran towards him firing at close range. Jack soon followed him, so did I and suddenly we all fired until the last guard was nothing but a burning pile of ash and dust. I suddenly heard Goldsmith's voice on our headsets. It came as a shock to me because after all the shit we've been through I didn't thought he survived. "Where are you guys?" Goldsmith said.

"We're on the second floor, third hallway," said Brit.

"Okay. Straight ahead of you there's the fourth hallway. There's an elevator at the left. Meet me on the fifth floor."

"Copy." We all reloaded our weapons and headed straight down and met another hallway. Upon arrival there we met an elevator and we all went in one by one on the way to the fifth floor

I looked aimlessly at the floors that were being counted. DING! The elevator bell goes off. We've made it to the fifth floor. We drew our weapons as the doors slowly open. To our surprise we met another hallway. "Who lives in this shit hole anyway?" I thought. "Donald Trump?" We all moved in single file to the end of the hallway with our fingers on the trigger. We approached to what appeared to be another hallway. We started to pick up speed as we moved in this new hallway. Suddenly the sound of gunfire echoed within the hallway. Brit and Jack went down and Danny and I soon took cover behind the wall. I looked to my right and saw Brit lying on his side groaning in pain. Jack was lying flat on his back without movement or breathing. I thought I couldn't just leave Brit there since he was still alive. I had to save him so I turned to Danny and said "Danny, covering fire!" Danny looked at me as if I was crazy and pointed his H&K UMP into the hall and fired away. I held Brit from under his arms and dragged him to safety. He took a shot to the left shoulder and right thigh. He was bleeding out of control. "You're gonna be okay," I said. "Just keep pressure on the wound." I then looked at Jack and saw that he had five gunshot wounds across his torso. I soon realized that he was dead. "Dick, come in we're taking heavy fire!" I said on my headset. "Brit's badly wounded and Jack's down."

"Okay, just hang in there," Goldsmith said. "We're on our way." I slowly turned my head into the hallway and there was suddenly a flash that almost blinded me. Pulled away and looked again then fired H&K MP 5K in the hallway. There was suddenly total silence. I looked again and there was nothing. I looked at Danny and he was looking in the same direction I was looking. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye I saw a man in black step into the middle of the hallway armed with two UZIs firing at our position. Danny and I pulled back as bullets flew at us chipping away at concrete. It was another guard. I moved to fire at him but he kept on firing not giving me or Danny a chance. I could hear shell casings fall on the floor as the guard continued firing. The gunfire approached closer and my heart was suddenly in my throat. I then heard two sets of gunfire in the hallway. I looked into the hallway and saw the guard in the other direction firing away at the other end of the hall. I then saw two men armed with an H&K MP 5K and an H&K UMP running towards the guard firing away. About six burning exit wounds appeared on the guard's back and he fell down turning into ash and dust. The two men walked closer to the burning remains of the guard and their faces came clear into view. They were Dick Goldsmith and his twenty five year old son Jason. Three members of the team appeared and ran up towards Dick and Jason. "Well it's about time," Danny said walking out calmly. Dick and the others suddenly drew their guns on Danny. "Hey! Hey! Hold up! It's us!" I said running next to Danny. Dick and the others then lowered their weapons. "Now, Brit's in deep shit and Nick's dead," I said. "You got King yet?"

"Well, that's what we're gonna do right now," Dick said. "Okay, guys, see to Brit. Jason, Danny, Annie and I are gonna take King's ass down."

Jason, Danny, Dick and I all ran down the other hallway. I started to look at my watch. It was 10:09 pm. We've been there since 9:30 and we were supposed to get our job done in 30 minutes before the place starts crawling with cops. But like I said, shit happens. At the right of the long corridor there was a flight of stairs. We ran up these stairs and met another hallway. "God, when is this shit gonna end?" I thought. At the end of this hallway there was another hallway. On the left there was a door at the very end. Armed with our weapons we all ran towards this door. Jason threw one kick at the door and it swung open. Suddenly a figure that was all to familiar dropped in front of us and turned to ash and dust from behind a desk. It was King. His head rolled to the corner and the skin turned to ash to reveal a charred skull. We looked at the desk and saw a shadowy figure kneeling down on the desk putting back something in the back of its long trench coat. We couldn't see it because the lights were all out and the moon wasn't aiming at the room. It turned back to us and looked at us with two glowing yellow eyes. It then jumped through the closed glass window disappearing from our sights. We all ran to the broken window and saw the figure on the ground below. It ran then jumped away gliding in the air and jumping from building to building. We looked at each other and then looked around the room. The floor was just littered with burning remains. At that same moment I was thinking if we should have thanked the guy who just helped us take down Louis King.

Two nights have past since the big Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. A new night came and I wouldn't be given the chance to slow down at all. I together with Danny would be called in to investigate the killing of the Donavon Bradely, the leader of the vampire clan called The Kin of Ekimmu. Bradely was a 315 year old elder and his clan was around for 245 years. The vampire hunting group called Final Order led by Tom Kelly kept surveillance on Bradely and his clan for five years. Before our arrival we were told that Bradely and some members of his clan were meeting at a friend's house when the whole place went up. Everywhere in the house was vandalized with furniture destroyed and bullet holes everywhere. No one survived except one. Danny and I met Kelly and his team at a harbor where we were shown some video footage of the whole thing. It looked as if there was a party going on inside. Everyone had to see the doorman in front. We were told that there were no humans at the party that night. We were also told that Kelly and his team didn't plan taking down Bradely. We looked closely at the monitor showing all the events that were going on. It seemed pretty normal until we started to hear screams. The only surveillance camera Kelly and his team had was in front of the house. We saw the door man suddenly pull a gun out and ran inside. That would be the last time I saw that doorman. The screams we heard went on for about ten minutes and they were just making my blood crawl. Suddenly the screams stopped and there was total silence. No one came out of the house and no one went in. Kelly said that he and three others went in found Bradely dead with two tooth marks on his neck. I suddenly froze when I heard that and immediately I thought of Gabriel Heinrich. He had the same tooth marks on his neck and his body was sucked dry. "However, we got a witness," Kelly said. "He said he saw the whole thing. He's out with Jeff and Tracy on the pier."

We all went out to the pier where we met Jeff Miller and Tracy Clarke interrogating a man with his hands bound with rubber handcuffs keeling on the ground. The man's skin was pale and his eyes were yellow and every time he talked we saw two fangs. This man was a vampire. A special serum was injected into his bloodstream which would make him weak and unable to use his powers. Every time he talked his speech would be slurred and he would sway from one angle to the next. "Start talkin', dick head," said Jeff. "What the fuck happened at your boss's party?" The vampire mumbled and swayed side to side. "Spill it, faggot!" said Tracy kicking the vampire in his head.

"Hey, knock it off!" said Kelly intervening. He then turned to the vampire. "Look, you're making it hard for yourself. Tell us what we wanna know and you could walk." The vampire kept on mumbling and swaying. It looked like they gave him a strong shot. "Talk!" yelled Kelly.

"Mina Harker!" the vampire suddenly said swaying side to side in a slurred speech. "Mina Harker! Mina Harker! MINA FUCKING HARKER!"

That name! It was a name that was too familiar. Immediately I recalled my last mission when I found a club ransacked and all but one of my chosen targets were dead. The only info this guy could give me was Mina Harker. I thought I could've moved on without hearing that name again, but in this case it would be impossible. There were four strange events to take place. Number one, as I together with Night's Arrow descended upon the location of six members of Damien's Hand we discovered that they were all wiped out. Number 2, Gabriel Heinrich, a vampire elder we had under surveillance for a long time was found with two gapping holes in his neck and his body sucked out dry. Number 3, I together with Harsh Deliverance raided the estate of the number 2 in vampire clan Wings of Darkness, Louis King. As we all closed in on him a figure in black did the honors in putting out his lights. Finally, number four, the vampire elder Donavon Bradely was taken out in a party at a friend's house and his body was found in the same manner as Heinrich's. In all four events the name Mina Harker only appears twice. Somehow I wonder if this person was tied to all events. Is this girl part of an unknown group of vampire hunters? Is she working alone? Is there somehow the emergence of a low level civil war between the various vampire clans and that Harker is caught right in the middle of it? Is she a contract killer working for a vampire elder to take out rival vampire clans? I had so many questions about this girl that I would go fucking crazy. Every thought of this name was just eating me inside. I couldn't take it anymore. I took it upon myself to finally go out and solve the mystery of this girl, once and for all. This would be different, however. When I look to my right Danny or any vampire hunter would not be there to back me up in this. This was my problem. I had to solve it alone.

_**LISTEN UP, FOLKS. I MIGHT GO INTO HIATUS FOR THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON. HOW DO YOU LIKE MY STORY SO FAR? IS THE SUSPENSE KILLING YA? I MIGHT HAVE TO STOP AT THIS CHAPTER.. DON'T WORRY, I'LL BE BACK! AND TO ALL OF YOU, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! **_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Happy New Year folks! I'm back! Just in time to complete this story which has become increasingly popular thanks to four readers on this site. This story begins with a seventeen year old girl name Anna Van Helsing who is a member of the shadowy vampire hunting group called The Van Helsing Clan. Anna fights with her brother Daniel (a.k.a. Danny) and other vampire hunters. One night Anna is called to take down six members of a vicious vampire clan called Damien's Hand at a small club in down town Los Angeles when she, Danny and a team of vampire hunters find the place almost leveled and all but one of Damien's Hand's six members dead. A severely wounded vampire crawls helplessly across the floor and as Anna rushes towards him all he could say was "Mina Harker". He then descended into death in a pile of burning ash and dust. The following day Anna tries to get over the disappointment of not experiencing any action the night before, yet she is somewhat curious of the name Mina Harker. On the way home from work from work she is called by Danny to survey a murder scene. This wasn't just any murder scene, members of another vampire group had discovered the body of a vampire elder with two tooth marks on his neck. One night Anna and Danny teamed up with the vampire group Harsh Deliverance to take down the second in command of a vampire clan called Wings of Darkness in which they were engaged in a huge firefight at the leader's compound. When Anna and Danny, together with Harsh Deliverance's leader and his son closed in on the Wings of Darkness second in command, in a split second, they saw his severed head roll across the floor and a dark figure escaping from their sights. The leader of a vampire hunting group summoned Anna and Danny to give news of the death of a vampire elder one night after keeping surveillance on the vampire elder's estate. Anna and Danny were shown footage of a party on the vampire elder's estate which was suddenly disrupted and all inside were killed, expect one. At the survivor's interrogation his only testimony was two words: "Mina Harker." It was a name that struck a cord in Anna and she took it upon herself to solve the mystery of Mina Harker_** **_once and for all._**

**Chapter 5  
**

This is it. The time has finally come to take care of something that has been so far up my ass for a long time. Another month has passed and this shit wasn't giving me a break at all. It was during that time I was carefully planning it and giving it real consideration. I finally made up my mind to find out who is Mina Harker. I took a personal interest in it and I wasn't gonna quit until I got every scrap of information about this girl who keeps popping up almost every where I go. Six members of the vampire clan Damien's Hand were killed and the info from one vampire close to death gave me was Mina Harker. It was the end of the party for Donavon Bradley, the leader of The Kin of Ekimmu. Somehow or the other in this case Mina Harker pops up. Bradley was found with two gapping holes in his neck. They were clearly tooth marks. Bradley wasn't the only vampire that died leaving tooth marks in his neck. Gabriel Heinrich, a vampire elder and leader of Neo Lunar was found dead with two tooth marks in his neck and his blood sucked dry out of his body. I thought it was really weird that the tables turned on a vampire this way and I would feel like throwing up every time I thought about a vampire sucking the blood of a vampire, even though it wasn't really confirmed. However, I didn't give a shit. When I found out that Donovan Bradley died the same way Heinrich died I knew this was serious shit that I couldn't shovel. In a raid on the second in command of Wings of Darkness's estate, in a split second I witness how Louis King was beheaded right in front of me. When I turned to my left there was a figure in black that I couldn't make out. The only thing I could see was a pair of two glowing yellow eyes staring right at me and making a run for it out the window. No vampire hunter could take off a vampire's head like that but I was damn sure those eyes didn't belong to a human. All these events were making my head spin so bad that I would get a hangover. I wanted to find out who Mina Harker was. I needed to find out who Mina Harker was. If I didn't know who Mina Harker was all I had to do was put my pistol to my forehead then POW! That was how obsessed I was about this whole thing. I found the answer to one question already. Mina Harker was a woman. It was obvious unless it was some faggot or transsexual. There were more questions to this name. Exactly who was she? Was she human? What group did she belong to? Who trained her? What weapons did she use? What did she know about vampires that other vampire hunters didn't? To find the answers to these it would take a lot of resources and my training. Even if it took me till kingdom come to know about this girl, so be it.

The road that led to Mina Harker was one that I pace alone. I wanted to do this alone because this was my problem. Don't get me wrong. I did try to get some assistance. I asked members of five vampire hunting groups to help me out but they all turned me down saying that I was crazy. The last person I went to was, of course, Danny. "Hey, Danny," I said to him one day. "Remember the last two missions we did?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "What about them?"

"Well, you know there's the name of a girl that popped up, right?"

"What name?"

"Uh, Mina Harker."

"Oh, yeah! I remember that."

"Well, what can you make of it?"

"What _can_ I make of it?"

I paused for a few seconds. "Do you think it's kinda strange that her name keeps coming up," I said.

"No," said Danny.

"Well look at it this way: every mission we set out to do it's like she comes around and do it for us. Like a clean sweep."

"What're you trying to say?" Danny said looking at me as if I was crazy.

"Do you think she could make a good comrade? I mean when it's us we bust our asses. When it's Harker she makes it easy."

"Mm-hmm."

"It's like she's been killing vampires for years."

"Annie, the Van Helsing Clan's been killing vampires for years…"

"Yeah, I know. But don't you think it's kinda weird that the vampires somehow know her personally? The vampires barely know our existence."

"Yeah," said Danny nodding thoughtfully. "You've got a point there."

"I was thinking, y'know , maybe you and I could go out there to try to know more about her. Maybe she's part of a group of vampire hunters that we don't about. Maybe we could be a team with them," I said.

"Look, Annie. Basically, I don't give a shit about this thing. There's some crazy bitch out there trying to see how much vampires she could kill in a day. Maybe she _is_ a vampire hunter…"

"But she's one we don't know about."

"So, what? There're many vampire hunters we don't know about. What this Harker chick is doing is basically routine, as far as I'm concerned. That has nothing to do with do with us. If you feel for those vampires she's already killed, then you should get off those anti-depressants or whatever you're on. Those pricks should just go fuck themselves."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," I said sarcastically. Oh, well, so much for that.

September 04th, the big day had arrived. I was in my apartment getting to make my first stop in my journey into solving the mystery of Mina Harker. I was in my bedroom loading fresh silver nitrate bullets in two magazine clips. I already took a shower and dressed myself and the day before I had my shoulder length brown hair cut short. As I was starting to load the first five bullets in one of the magazines there was a knock on the door. I quickly started to hide all the bullets and hide the magazines in the dresser and under the bed sheets. The knocking on the door suddenly went to loud banging as I frantically tried to hide my weapons to avoid having my cover blown. "Rent!" an all too familiar voice said. "C'mon, open the fucking door! Your rent's due!" The banging didn't stop until I finally ran to door, unlocked the locks and twisted the door knob, opening the door to Freddy Greene, my landlord. "Sorry I took so long, Mr. Greene," I said.

"I don't give a fuck. Where's my rent?" said the obese fifty five year old father of three. He was a very sloppy man. His white t-shirt was always brown dirty, he hardly took a shave and his grey hair was always shaggy. I remember the last time I went to his apartment to deliver his rent and I couldn't believe I was in an apartment. Clothes would always be on the floor, cockroaches would be running all over the place, the paint on the walls would be peeling off and electrical lines would be hanging from the ceiling. Mr. Greene would never try to fix his place up, let alone look after his family because he was too fucking lazy. His wife Linda was tall and skinny and always had to do the basics in bringing up their family. She even had to take care of her husband as if he was one of the two boys and one girl in his family. At nights I would hear Mr. Greene and Linda argue. Most times I would wish they'd both shut the fuck up and sometimes I didn't want them to stop because they would mostly argue over bullshit that made me laugh. I always tried to better than the Greenes by always keeping my apartment clean, working out every day and even saving every last penny I earned to buy a T.V. Not only that, but have it installed with Direct TV, something that they don't have. Every time Mr. Greene came over to collect rent he would look into my apartment and tell me that I was nothing but a money hungry bitch that always spent my money on shit to grab men and he would even curse me out. I didn't care because I knew he was jealous and that he just didn't want to admit that he wished he had the same things I did.

"Oh sorry, Mr. Greene, I'll get it (the rent)." I said.

"I don't believe this shit!" said Mr. Greene. "I'm standing here the whole fucking time thinking that you brought it with you and you don't have it in your fucking hand. That's long overdue anyway. Five days now you were supposed to bring it in." I went into the bedroom, opened the dresser and pulled out $300 and went back to the door to give it to Mr. Greene. Mr. Greene clinched the crisp 3 $100 bills in his hand, looked into my living room then looked at me. "See? That's why you took so long to bring it in, always dumping your money on shit and that new hairdo is just another thing you're doing to get guys to fuck you every night and you're only fifteen."

"Seventeen," I said.

"I give don't give a fuck! You look like you're twelve." Mr. Greene then put the $300 in his back pocket and sluggishly walked away. "Eh, shove it up your ass, you fat fuck," I said under my breath as I closed the door. I then went back to my bedroom to load my magazine.

I loaded the last bullets in my magazine clips and slapped it into two compact Heckler & Koch USP pistols. I then strapped two gun holders to my thighs and place my guns into them. Another thing I had with me was a pair of P72 goggles. These were the ones used to separate humans from vampires. I would carry no communication equipment with me, because I didn't want Danny or anybody to contact me. I didn't want to get Danny caught up in this. Finding out about this girl Mina could be dangerous business. I didn't want to live with the fact that I caused the deaths of Danny or anybody else over some bullshit I was so obsessed of. I would've never forgiven myself as a result. If I was gonna die, at least I'll carry the fact that Danny was still alive to my grave. I threw on my trench coat grabbed my shades and walked into the living room. I closed all the windows and turned off the lights. I then walked into the hallway, closed the door behind me, placed a key in the door knob and twisted it locking the door. I started to walk down the hall and with every step I took it echoed throughout the hall. This would've been the last time I would've ever left that apartment. As I approached the stairway that led to outside the building the sound of a couple arguing grew louder and louder as I started to reach for the railing of the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Greene were arguing again. Their apartment was located right next to the staircase. All I could make out was that Mr. Greene was complaining about a new dress Linda bought. I smiled shaking my head as I walked down the stairs. I approached the entrance and opened the door. The rays of the sun struck me as I stepped out the door. I reached into my coat and pulled out my sunglasses and placed them over my eyes. As I put them on the morning sun became dim. I walked into the alley where all the apartment occupants' vehicles were parked. Between two cars parked in one row I spotted the one that would carry me throughout this journey: the Honda Super Hawk motorcycle. What's that? You didn't know I had a bike? Well, the Super Hawk was a gift from fellow vampire hunter Brian Cox, the member of Final Touchdown. He was a dirt bike rider and winner of three titles already. I was always into bikes ever since I was fifteen and I've been riding ones that Cox would loan to me. In one mission I saved Cox's ass when he was wounded and pinned down in a gunfight with members of the vampire group Sons of the Abyss. To repay me he gave my very own bike. Danny was jealous, but I didn't give a fuck. I walked to the Super Hawk, took a seat, started the engines and sped off to my first destination: Lambert's Computers.

After doing 50 miles an hour I finally arrived at Lambert's Computers. Lambert's Computers was a computer store own by Steve Lambert who was assisted by his daughter fifteen year old Emily (also called Emma). She was a close friend of mine, so close I would often call her sis by mistake. She was always into computers so she helped me make the right choice in buying the Dell Latitude C600 laptop computer. Today it was different. Emma had something that would help me to find out who is Mina Harker. "Good Morning, Mr. Lambert," I said walking into the store. "Is Emma here?"

"She's on lunch," said Mr. Lambert. "Don't worry I'll go get her." Mr. Lambert vanished from sight for thirty seconds. He then returned with the glasses wearing red head girl who welcomed me with open arms. "How long has it been?" said Emma.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said.

"I'm just so glad to see you, that's all."

"Me, too. Listen, Emma, things were rough lately. I don't wanna give away too much detail, but on four missions somebody's been making us look like a bunch of bums."

"What're you talking about?"

"Somebody took out four hits we were supposed to do."

"Was it you guys?"

"No. The strange thing about it is whoever took these guys out keep reaching their before we do."

"It's probably other vampire hunters."

"It can't be. I'm gonna tell you something that'll make you puke. The leaders of Neo Lunar and The Kin of Ekimmu were killed. The thing about it is they had tooth marks on their bodies. It's like their blood was totally drained out of their bodies. I don't know how to say this, but I think that there's a vampire feeding on the blood of vampires."

Emma looked at me as if I was crazy. "You're fucking with me, right?" she said.

"This no bullshit, okay?" I said. "I don't really know that for sure, but that's not why I'm here. I need you to give me the files on all the vampire hunters and vampires in L.A."

Emma suddenly paused and looked at me in a shocked stare. She secretly kept files on all vampire hunters and their activities plus vampire profiles. She transferred all the vampire profiles through e-mail to other vampire hunters in Los Angeles. Her father didn't know anything about her activities. The files that Emma kept were very top secret and very precious. It was info that was too precious to lose. "Look, Annie, I can't just give that to you," said Emma. "You're talking about files and files of top secret info."

"I know. That's why I want you to give it to me," I said.

"Listen to me, Annie. Kelly worked her ass off to give me this info. I don't let anybody look into any of the files until they have a certain mission."

"Really? Well what's the point of keeping them?"

Kelly was Emma's big sister who ran a secret group of vampire hunters on campus while she was in college. Kelly was well respected by other vampire hunters and she had been doing it for seven years. Mr. Lambert didn't know what his eldest daughter was up to either because the Lambert sisters had a way of keeping secrets. I teamed up with her five times already and I saw why everybody liked this girl. Danny at one time had a crush on her. When Kelly wasn't hunting vampires she kept surveillance on any vampire she came across or heard of and made files on the groups they belonged to. These files contained all the information on the vampire clans which included the number of members that were involved, their activities and their chain of command. Kelly also set up files on all vampire hunters. Vampire hunters would never know about their targets until they were ready to launch their missions. After making these files Kelly would give them to Emma for safe keeping.

"Annie, I already got in trouble for messing around with the files," said Emma. "I'll be fucked if I gave classified information to one vampire hunter without the other vampire hunters' knowledge."

"Now you listen to me," I said speaking to firmly. "This is could be a vampire that could no vampire hunter could handle. At least let me do something about it before any of our comrades get killed fighting a vampire they don't know shit about."

"Annie, please! Those are very important files. You mightn't handle them the right way."

"I'm not gonna ask you again, Emma."

"C'mon, Annie! All of them?"

"I didn't studder."

"But, Annie…"

"Cut the bullshit, Emma! I want every last one of the files. You'd better them to me before I sell your four-eyed ass out, and that's not very hard to do." Emma got speechless. The feds already knocked on her door twice for being suspected of terrorist activity after they bugged her computer. She got in serious trouble with Mr. Lambert afterwards, who dropped her in boot camp for three weeks! "Hey, you wouldn't that, right?" said Emma.

"Give me all files and stop your fucking stalling!" I said.

"All right, all right, just keep your voice down, goddammit.

Emma led me behind the store and to a desk where she kept her computer. She turned it on, moved the mouse to the tool bar and clicked on File. A window opened and she went on Open. As she clicked the computer flashed a notice which read "Please access code." Emma then looked at me sadly and I gave her one hard look. She shook her head typed the word ENIGMA. The computer suddenly flashed a notice which read "Approved". The screen quickly changed and revealed a long list of documents with no end in sight. Emma sighed as she began to download each file and when she was finished the screen became blank and she then gave me the flashcard. "Thanks, I owe you one," I said tucking the flashcard safely in my pocket. Emma sunk her head into her hands as I walked out of the store and to my bike.

I sat on my bike knowing I was ready, but I needed something else. I started the engine and sped off to my next location: Joey Long's apartment. Joey Long was a good friend of mine who was also a vampire hunter. I went to his apartment to see if I could get one of his bugging devices. He hesitated at first but then he agreed to give me a mini microphone amplifier. This would've enabled me to record conversations of vampires in any location they could be. I then went back home to look into files.

Once in my apartment I connected the flashcard to my laptop and went on Files to click it open. There was a very long list of documents on the computer, so much so I didn't know where to start. The files were divided into two columns: a red column which represented vampire hunters and a blue column which represented vampires. Finding out about Mina Harker was tougher than I thought. I then thought that Mina Harker could be a vampire hunter so I decided to go on the red column. I clicked on one document and it opened revealing one huge website. This website belonged to the Arm of Freedom. This was a group I never met or heard of. I clicked on a bar that gave info on all of its members. Arm of Freedom had 255 members and they were listed alphabetically by the last names. I looked in H which included names like Henry, Howard and Harrison, but none of the names included Harker. I went to 10 other files in the red column, files of many vampire hunters I didn't know of, but none of them included the name Mina Harker. I was pretty disappointed, thinking that I chewed out Emma for nothing. Suddenly one small thought crossed my mine. Maybe Mina Harker was a new member. I was sure Kelly hardly kept track of new vampire hunters. I decided to go into the list once again and I picked another group I never heard of: The Golden Rifles Association. This group had a very good profile. It was responsible for bringing down 25 vampire clans for the past 32 years. Its leader was George Hunt. Hunt established the group in 1968 and continued to run the group from a wheelchair after being shot and paralyzed during a mission in 1975. I would go to this one first, but first, I decided to test out the new microphone amplifier I got. I went into the blue column and clicked on it. The blue column revealed hundreds of thousands if not millions of vampire clans that ran the streets of L.A. Nearly all of them were vampire clans I never heard of. The files also placed vampires into two categories: pure and impure. Those who were born vampires were described as pure blood. Those who became vampires were described as impure blood. I decided to pick the first one: The Omnipotent. The Omnipotent was 400 years old and had over 600 members. Its leader was Nicolas White, 500 years old, pure blood. One thing caught my eye. Nicolas White would often go to this bar called Dixie's in downtown L.A. This file also included a several photos of this guy. One current photo showed White with long blond hair tied in a pony tail with shades on his face. "Okay, this is the guy," I thought. I wrapped up and waited for night fall to dig up any information I could about this guy if I wanted any leads in finding out who's Mina Harker.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Anna Van Helsing had made preparations to solve the mystery of Mina Harker. She had obtained files containing the list of vampire hunters and vampires in Los Angeles. She chose to interview the leader of the Golden Rifles Association, George Hunt but decided to monitor the leader of the vampire clan The Omnipotent, Nicolas White instead. She would soon discover that she is after two people, not one._**

**Chapter 6 **

Dixie's Bar, downtown Los Angeles. A half an hour bike ride got me there in no time. Upon arrival I opened the door to find large, bearded, tattooed men at the pool tables, guys ordering drinks at the bartender's counter and watching sports on the T.V., and one man showing off his new girlfriend to his friends. I sat at one empty table, took out my P72 goggles and looked into them to see what I was in for. All of the occupants' bodies were red indicating they were human. I thought I was out of the woods when suddenly I turned to the direction of the sound of the door opening. About five to eight guys walked through the door and their bodies were blue. They were vampires. I lowered the goggles to see those men in trench coats walking towards a table that was located in the corner of the bar. One of the men looked familiar. He had blonde hair tied in a pony tail and he had these blue eyes that made him look almost like an angel. It was Nicolas White, the leader of The Omnipotent. White and his henchmen sat in one row and White started talking to another man. I couldn't make out the conversation so all I did was sat there and watch. After about twenty minutes the conversation ended and White and his men got up and left. I decided at that moment that I shouldn't lose him so moments after they left I followed them.

Once outside I saw them boarding two SUVs and driving away. I hopped on my bike started up the engines and rode right behind them being careful not to be spotted by riding a few paces back. They were doing 52 miles an hour, so fast I found it hard to keep up. They then turned into the other road which was empty and they started to pick up the pace. Why are they going so fast? Nobody's after them. Well, except me. It took about thirty minutes when they finally slowed down. I slowed down and hid behind a few cars. Where I was located was a luxurious estate somewhere in Bel Air. The huge gates opened and the SUVs rolled in stopping in front of the entrance of the house. White stepped out and one of his henchmen assisted him in removing his trench coat and they all went inside. Right there I knew where White was hibernating. "A multi-million dollar estate in the middle of Bel-Air?" I thought. "Lucky motherfucker."

A new day had arrived. It was 7am in the morning when I hopped on my bike to ride down to White's estate to plant my bugging device. In about forty minutes I was there to find the place totally quiet. I looked at the tall fences trying to figure out how the hell I was gonna scale this big ass fence. I looked closely to find long spikes at the top. I looked at the entrance to see two Hummers roll in front of the house. I quickly hid myself behind some bushes and looked closely to find White leaving the entrance of the house and walking towards one of the Hummers and stepping inside. God, so early? The Hummers started to drive towards the huge gates and the gates opened slowly allowing them to leave the estate with ease. At that very moment I decided that the electric gates would be an easy entrance into the estate. I laid low until the Hummers were gone then I turned my head to see the huge gates starting to close. I was a bit far from the gate so I started to run towards it. With every ground I covered the two sides of the gate reached closer and closer. I stepped in front of the gate and squeezed myself through and found myself on the estate. The moment I entered the estate the electric doors closed tight. Sure beats the shit out of scaling the fence.

I started to lay low and creep towards the entrance of the house. Suddenly I spotted a surveillance camera over the doors. In fact there were two of them. "Shit!" I said as I ducked down. They were moving side to side in every direction. I decided to go around the back. I knew my timing had to be perfect if I had to avoid being detected. One of the surveillance cameras would slowly turn to the right where the back was located. I waited as the camera turned left and I rushed past the entrance keeping low. I walked slowly towards the back to find a swimming pool and moved closer to find two sliding doors. I opened the door slowly and slowly walked in. I started to creep across the floor trying to find a good place to hook up my mini microphone amplifier. "Why the fuck are you unarmed, Annie?" I said to myself. Suddenly I heard the sound of footsteps and men talking growing louder and louder down a hall way. I quickly hid myself in a room and closed in the door with my hand still on the knob. I cracked the door open and I saw two men walking past the door. One had a pistol tucked in a gun holder that was strapped unto his body. "Fuck me," I thought.

I opened the door slightly and crept in opposite direction which led me to the living room. There was a grand staircase in front of me and there was a living room suite at my left. Suddenly I heard multiple voices at my right and they were louder by the minute. I quickly hid myself behind one of the couches laid low. I listed carefully to hear the voices of women approaching the living room. I took a peak and saw about five beautiful women dressed in bikinis and robes talking and laughing as they disappeared in the area I came in. "Where the fuck am I?" I thought. "The Playboy Mansion?" I crawled from behind the couch and found a small wooden table in the middle. Perfect. I took out a small hand drill and drilled a small hole. Lying on my back I took some duct tape to connect my microphone amplifier to the table. I was halfway through when suddenly I heard footsteps again. I dove behind the couch and slightly peeked to see a large man wearing a turtle neck walking around slowly in the living room. This was the same guy that had a gun tucked in a gun holder which was strapped unto his body. He stopped and turned his head in my direction and the moment he turned his head I pulled back mine. My heart started beating and I prayed for that man not to check behind this couch. I heard his footsteps again and my heart was now in my throat. I looked up and I could see him walking towards the entrance and opening the door stepping out closing the door shut. I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to finish what I started. I lied on my back and finished strapping the amplifier unto the table with the duct tape. I then fitted the microphone through the small hole I drilled and it fitted perfectly. When I was finished I crept out of the living room and back into the hallway.

I started to go towards the back door when I saw the five women who I saw earlier having a great time at the pool. I decided right there I couldn't pass through the back nor the front because of the guard and the surveillance cameras. I went into one bedroom and found a window open. Exit. I went through the window and landed on the ground outside. What now? What now? I looked left and right and saw no safe way out. I saw a wall in front of me and decided that would be my ticket out of here. I ran towards the wall jumped and grabbed unto the edge. With all my strength I pulled myself up and placed my right foot on the edge. I then brought up my left foot until I was standing on the edge. At the top I hesitated because I was pretty high but then I looked down and saw the same guard walking around on the other side. At that moment I jumped and landed on the other side. I picked myself up and breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, you, what the fuck are you doing here?" I heard a voice said. I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw a man in a robe holding a cup of coffee and a newspaper. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I…I was just…"

"You'd better get the fuck outta here before I call the cops!" The man said walking towards me.

"Sorry! Sorry!" I said running away.

Night time, 9:30 p.m., I descended upon the property of Nicolas White to put my nose up his ass. I knew I had to avoid detection from any guards or surveillance cameras so I stopped about two blocks from the house, clicked on my transmitter to listen to the conversations inside the White compound. On this first night of surveillance I heard conversations that were not really important to me. White was discussing certain plans with some of his men and to visitors from other vampire clans. The following night I clicked on my transmitter only to hear the sound of loud music, laughter and cheer. It was obvious that White was having a party. Vampires always have parties. I tried again the night after and I parked two blocks down the road clicked on my transmitter and listened in. I heard the sound of a woman moaning in pleasure which I found was rather peculiar. As I listened carefully the woman's moans grew louder and louder, suddenly the moans turned to screams. I couldn't help but pay attention until I heard the woman scream out White's name and say something like "Go deeper!" At that moment I clicked off the transmitter and started to blush. "Son of a bitch," I thought. "Goddamn it." I then place my transmitter in my trench coat and rode off. As I rode down that road I was still blushing and I shook my head roughly trying to get those thoughts off my mind.

I picked up several recordings over a span of four nights. I thought I was getting no where with this until I heard one conversation that caught my attention. This is a transcript of the actual conversation I picked up.

GUARD: Mr. White, you have a visitor. He said his name is Max Heinrich.

Wait a minute. Max Heinrich? I listened carefully to hear a man speaking in a deep German accent introducing himself as Max Heinrich. White gave him a seat and they both engaged in their conversation.

WHITE: Good to see you. I'm very sorry what happened to Gabriel.

MAX HEINRICH: You should be. He was my brother, for Christ sake!

Hold up. Gabriel Heinrich was this guy's brother? This is getting intriguing by the minute.

WHITE: I have a good idea who's responsible. It's those fucking hunters.

MAX HEINRICH: Nein. I'm sure the Bride of Dracula's responsible for this.

WHITE: You think?

MAX HEINRICH: Sucking the blood of other vampires is the hallmark of the Bride of Dracula. She did her black magic on my flesh and blood.

WHITE: Is that what you're here to discuss?

MAX HEINRICH: I was wondering if you perhaps know a way to destroy her.

WHITE: Max, Max, Max, this is the Bride of Dracula you're talking about. The blood of the lord of all vampires runs through her veins. We've been trying to take her down for years now.

MAX HEINRICH: She's not even of pure blood, Ja.

WHITES: That's right. I don't even know why the minority of our race worships that bitch anyway.

MAX HEINRICH: According to you the blood of Lord Dracula runs through her veins. Dracula was an invincible vampire. He was immune to all the humans' methods of destroying him. Those who worship the Bride of Dracula believe that she'll one day deliver the vampire race and lead them to victory over the humans. They also believe she'll eventually rule over this earth.

WHITE: Why should we try to make her our leader if she doesn't even wanna join us? It's pointless.

MAX HEINRICH: Ja. That's why she must die.

WHITE: What do you suggest we do?

MAX HEINRICH: Gather up the finest of our men and work with our sources in the federal government to take that little cont down.

WHITE: Max, even though we gather up all of our best resources we mustn't forget who we're dealing with. And besides, we can't blow our cover to the humans.

MAX HEINRICH: Do _you_ have any alternatives?

WHITE: You fight her your way; I'll fight her my way. But I'm telling you it won't be over by tomorrow. Just ask the 2,000 she killed already.

I turned off the transmitter. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Okay, I found out who was responsible for Gabriel Heinrich murder but I was shocked to find out that the lord of all vampires still had descendants. I thought my ancestor killed Dracula already? He should've killed his wife while he was at it. That didn't sound good. If there was a vampire with links to Dracula this world would've been in deep shit. But Nicolas White said that the so-called "Bride of Dracula" is not on the vampires' side. Is she on our side? There was only one way to find out. George Hunt of the Golden Rifles Association as soon as possible.

_**IF THERE'S ANYONE WHO'S READING THIS CHAPTER , DO ME A FAVOUR. READ THIS CHAPTER CAREFULLY AND DECIDE WHETER IT'S MORE COMEDY THAN SUSPENSE. IF YOU THINK IT'S A COMEDY LET ME KNOW WHICH PART WAS FUNNY.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Anna Van Helsing has just found out that a mysterious person known only as "The Bride of Dracula" was responsible for the death of vampire elder Gabriel Heinrich. She also found out that the Bride of Dracula has an unusual habit of feeding on the blood of other vampires. This wasn't enough for Anna. She needed to find out more about the Bride of Dracula by trying to uncover the Bride of Dracula's identity. **_

**Chapter 7 **

I got my first break. The leader of Neo Lunar, Gabriel Heinrich, was killed by the Bride of Dracula………Who the fuck is the Bride of Dracula? I didn't get a name. All I know is that Count Dracula known as the lord of all vampires had many women, most of whom he didn't had particular interest in. Looking up in my family's archives they stated that almost all of who Dracula was survived by were killed over the past years. My family never missed a target. Whoever missed this so called Bride of Dracula really had shit for brains. Wait a minute I shouldn't be just standing here. I had some other business to attend to. I had to find the Golden Rifles Association's leader to discuss this.

At my apartment I looked up the files that Emma gave me on my laptop. Members of the Golden Rifles Association would often meet at this abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Los Angeles Basin. This warehouse would often be their base of operations. Vampire hunters don't know about it and vampires don't know about it. Maybe it was because of the frequent earthquakes that would occur there. Taking a long bike ride that spanned over an hour and 25 minutes, I got there through tall hills and deep slopes. I spotted the warehouse at an old harbor and parked my bike in the front doors. I walked slowly to the front door, knocked three times and waited. No answer. I knocked again, suddenly a rectangular peep hole slid open to reveal two green eyes. I heard a man's voice come from the same area of the eyes. "Who is it?" the voice said.

"Is George Hunt here?" I said.

"Who needs to know?"

"Anna Van Helsing. I'm from the Van Helsing Clan."

The man's eyes disappeared as he slid the peep hole shut. I then heard the door creak open to reveal the green eyes' owner. A tall man stepped from behind the door and summoned me to come in. Once inside I discovered people wielding tools, some training in make-shift shooting ranges and some on high-tech computers. "Hey Jesse," the man said to a young boy "go get your father. Tell him that there's somebody from the Van Helsing Clan to see him." The boy who was no older than twelve ran and disappeared in the back door. After about two minutes the boy came back with a bald man moving slowly in a wheelchair trailing behind him. "George Hunt?" I said.

"Yes," the man said. "And, you are..?"

"Anna Van Helsing. You can call me Annie."

"She said that she's from the Van Helsing Clan," the man next to me said.

"The Van Helsing Clan?" I've heard all about you!" George Hunt said shaking my hand. "Some of my men fought with your family before. You guys are great."

"You fought with my family before?" I said. "I didn't know that."

"That was a long time ago. You probably weren't born yet. This here is my son Jesse and you've met Steve Hopkins. He's in charge of operations."

"Hi," I said shaking their hands. "Is there anything I can do for you, Annie?" said Hunt.

"Well I need to discuss this in private," I said. "I hope you don't mind"

"Hey, anything for the member of one hell of a group of vampire hunters," said Hunt. "Right this way." He rolled away and led me to another area of the warehouse.

"Do you know anyone by the name Gabriel Heinrich?" I said.

"No," said Hunt.

"Donavon Bradley?"

Hunt shook his head. I paused for a few seconds. "Have you recently recruited anyone by the name Mina Harker?" I said.

"Nope," Hunt said. I was disappointed. I then came up with another question. "Are you aware of the group Wings of Darkness?" Hunt paused for a second "Well, a few weeks ago we had them under surveillance," Hunt said. "They were talking about the death of their second in command. Somebody named Louis King."

I paused right there. It clearly rang a bell. Louis King was second in command of Wings of Darkness. I was involved in a raid to take King down when I found him dead right before my eyes. "You've got anymore details?" I said.

"Well they said that some other vampire hunters took King down and somebody else was working with those vampire hunters."

"Who?"

"I don't know. Somebody they call the Bride of Dracula." I was speechless. The one who Max Heinrich called the Bride of Dracula was actually there when I was in that raid on Louis King's estate? Man, this is some deep shit. "Well do you know if somebody hired the Bride of Dracula?" I said.

"Nope," said Hunt. "Wings of Darkness don't know either. All they know is that the Bride of Dracula already killed 50 members from 6 different clans including their own."

"Well, what's the scoop on this girl?"

"Annie, we don't know shit about this girl,"

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing we can shovel. We don't know who she is or where she came from. All we know that she's this girl that the vampires say is the most powerful of their kind."

"A vampire?"

"When you hear the name Dracula isn't it obvious?"

"God, how could there be a vampire killing vampires?"

"That's what I'd like to know." I paused for a few seconds. "One more thing," I said. "Do you know anything about a vampire sucking out the blood out of other vampires?"

"Well, come to think of it," said Hunt. "There were cases where we found vampires dried up like raisins. They had tooth marks on their necks. Back then we didn't know what to make of it."

"Well, I did some surveillance on a vampire leader's estate. I found out that this Bride of Dracula may be responsible for each case."

"You gotta be shittin' me."

"I'm serious. This guy I'm talking about, Gabriel Heinrich, I with my brother, Danny, found him in the same way you found the others. Do you think she's a member of some other group of vampire hunters?"

"Hell no!"

"Anything strange happened lately?"

"Come to think of it, there was one incident where we couldn't kill a vampire. About 17 years ago we did a raid on an apartment building where about 7 members of this group called Grim Silence were hiding out. About 12 of our guys were involved. Steve was there, he'll tell you."

Steve Hopkins was taking break from welding when Hunt summoned him. Once we all got together, the tall, black-haired man started telling his story. "It was May 15th, 1988. Me and eleven other guys were acting on hard intelligence that seven members of Grim Silence were meeting in apartment 209. Once we got there we saw this girl with a sword cutting off the head of one of Grim Silence's members. I looked closer. This girl was a vampire. One of our guys, Tony Craig, fired his weapon at her. The bullets hit her but she didn't drop. All of her wounds just healed up. Tony kept on shooting then the girl took out her sword and cut his head off. All of us opened fire but our bullets weren't doing shit. Just like that the girl took out four more of our guys. Another one of our guys, Todd Harris, tried to stab the girl with his stake. He dug it deep in her chest. This girl didn't flinch one bit, she didn't even scream. She just stood there and grabbed Todd by the throat and started pulling out the stake from her chest. All of a sudden she stabbed Todd in the eye with the stake. Chris Harris, another member of our group tried to hold her down along with another guy, Dylan Crawford. Chris grabbed her from behind and Dylan threw a choke hold on her. The girl grabbed both of them threw them in the air and took out her sword and cut Chris in half and when Dylan landed on the floor the girl stabbed him in the chest. Three other guys, Eric Manley, Jason Scott and Jeff Vaughn started to go after. I tried to stop them but they wouldn't listen. The girl killed them too. There was just the three of us left, Rob Kelly, Stan Pollack and me. It was there we decided to make a run for it. We thought the girl would take us out too. You might think we were pussies but that girl….," Steve started shaking his head.

"What did this girl looked like?" I asked.

"Well…, I can say she was about 4ft 9 inches tall, no older than seventeen depending on the age she probably became a vampire, and black hair," said Steve.

"You said she had a sword. What kind of sword?"

"I don't know. She just had a sword. I don't what kind it was. All I can tell you is that sword was _long_, probably about 5 feet long. I don't know how that girl was able to handle it and it looked kinda bent. This girl was fast. Faster than any other vampire I came across. It was too hard to believe. I've never seen anybody use a sword like that. Not the way she did. I just couldn't understand why our bullets didn't kill her. She even got a silver stake to the heart. That was crazy!"

"Anything else?"

"Nope, that's just about it."

After spending a couple more minutes with George Hunt and his team it was time for me to leave. "Thanks for coming," said Hunt leading me to the door. "Keep up the good work you and your family does."

"Thanks. Take care," I said.

"Wait one minute, Annie. You came here and brought up some names and we went down memory lane. I bet that's not why you came here, right?" I didn't answer. "I know you heard me, Annie. Why do you want to know so much about this girl anyway?"

"Well," I said. I then paused. "A few months ago I was involved in a raid with my brother and some other vampire hunters on six members that belonged to this vampire group Damien's Hand. When we got there all of them dead, except one. This guy said somebody named Mina Harker was responsible. I did another raid with my brother on the estate of Louis King, but King was dead already. I found the body of this guy named Gabriel Heinrich and he looked all dried up with tooth marks in his neck. There was this bunch of vampire hunters that had this guy named Donavon Bradley under surveillance. Bradley was killed, so was many others at this party he had. One survivor was rounded up and he said Mina Harker was responsible for that too."

"Wait a minute, you were at Louis King's estate?" said Hunt.

"Yeah," I said.

"What did you see? Who killed him?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see their face. Somebody just cut his head. Anyway, I was doing some surveillance on this guy named Nicolas White. He had a visitor, Gabriel Heinrich's brother Max. Max said the same Bride of Dracula killed Gabriel by sucking out his blood. I also found out that there are some vampires worshipping the Bride of Dracula. They also said the Bride of Dracula is not on their side and that she already killed 2,000 vampires. Thanks to you guys I found out that the Bride of Dracula's responsible for Louis King's killing. Now I find out that I'm after two people: Mina Harker and the Bride of Dracula. I wanna find out more."

"Why so badly?"

"I just want to, okay?"

"Is anybody else with you in this?"

"Nope. Well, I tried to get my brother and others to join me but they all turned me down. I'd rather not let anybody join me because I don't wanna sacrifice any lives over this." Hunt nodded his head. "I understand," he said. "I know somebody else who can help you in this thing."

"No, Mr. Hunt. You've helped enough," I said.

"Not me. There are some bounty hunters in this town across the Mexican border. They call themselves the Road Dogs. They hunt vampires too. Maybe they could give you the information you need. You just be careful, okay? The border's not safe either." I thanked Hunt again and went on my way back to my apartment.

In my apartment I laid on my bed looking at the ceiling, thinking about the events of the day. I got at least some information about the Bride of Dracula. Steve Hopkins recalls one strange event that involved the killing of his comrades by this girl with a sword. But what does all that have to do with Mina Harker? God, this is tougher than I thought. I think I'm turning grey already. There was something about Steve's story that really scared me. He and his comrades opened fire on this girl with the sword but the bullets didn't kill her. This girl even got stabbed in the heart with a stake but it didn't have any affect. How could there be a vampire that is strong against all these killing methods? That didn't sound good. It's driving me crazy. I still got some work to do. The next day I gathered up all my best resources: food, drink, night vision and my P72 goggles. I learned from my mistakes from the Nicolas White experience so I also carried my two H&K USP pistols and 12 clips containing several rounds of silver nitrate. I got out the apartment building and landed on my bike, started the engines and sped off to my next location: a small town along the U.S./Mexican border to find the Road Dogs.


	8. Chapter 8

**_After interviewing George Hunt and members of the Golden Rifles Association, Anna Van Helsing heads off to the U.S./Mexican border. The information she got was that the one called the Bride of Dracula was responsible for Louis King's death. As you may remember Louis King was the second-in-command of the vampire clan Wings of Darkness. The man in charge of the Golden Rifles Association, Steve Hopkins, recalls one night in 1988 where he and his team came across a young female vampire weilding a sword. This girl was strong against silver nitrate bullets and stakes. This was information that caught Anna Van Helsing's attention, but with all the info she gathered up so far she could not make a connection to Mina Harker. Anna rides to the border to search for a group of bounty hunters in hopes to finding the true identity of the Bride of Dracula. Forgive me if my Spanish is bad, but it's been so long I've left school._**

**Chapter 8******

I'm dashing down the Interstate 5 highway, doing 54 miles per hour in Southwest Los Angeles, being careful not to pass the speeding limit. There are a million thoughts running through my mind as I ride down that road that leads me to the U.S./Mexican border. It wouldn't be the first time I'd cross the border. Two years prior when I was in the earliest days of my vampire hunting I crossed the border with Danny and a group called the Red Doves in hot pursuit for three vampire elders that were part of the leadership of the vampire clan The Neuntoters. I crossed the border several times already so I have a lot of experience of what goes on in the many towns that lie along the border. It was very dangerous over there. Vampires were the ones that mostly roamed in these towns. They would use the small human population as their cover. Lots of weapons would be piling up in these places. The vampires would often use the border as a big smuggling route to ship weapons to various vampire clans in the U.S. They've infiltrated the Border Patrol so passing these dangerous weapons would be a breeze for them. Vampires were also helping to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S. by snatching up any poor dick head that had the balls to cross that shit hole of a border and killing them. I didn't know of any vampire hunter that set up shop in Mexico. I was fluent in Spanish so I wouldn't have any problems with communicating with the local population. It's just that I was in this alone. Nobody was by my side when I took this dangerous route to Mexico. I've engaged with vampires that were armed with weapons the U.S. Army would use; all kind of rifles, rockets and heavy machine guns. I would often be outgunned and outnumbered along with Danny or some other bunch of vampire hunters. I'm telling you the border is the Wild West. I would see people walking around just like that with guns hanging out their pants. Men even women and children would be carrying the best guns on the market. I didn't thought I would survive with only two pistols and twelve magazine clips. I had to conserve.

Before you know it I take another road that leads to the Mexican Border. As I ride down this long deserted road another thought crosses my mind: the info I gathered up so far. In two incidents the name Mina Harker pops up: one in the killing of six members of the vampire clan Damien's Hand and two in killing of Donavon Bradley, the leader of The Kin of Ekimmu. While keeping surveillance on the leader of the vampire clan The Omnipotent, Nicolas White, I discovered that someone called the Bride of Dracula was responsible for killing Gabriel Heinrich, the leader of Neo Lunar and Louis King, the second in command of The Wings of Darkness. How does she do it? How can the Bride of Dracula suck the blood of other vampires? She killed Gabriel Heinrich by sucking out his blood, but Gabriel Heinrich wasn't the only vampire she did this to. George Hunt, the leader of the vampire hunting group The Golden Rifles Association described how he and his team found other vampires in the same way Gabriel Heinrich was. Their bodies were all dried up and they had tooth marks in their necks. What I really wanna know is how she killed Louis King? Furthermore, how did a vampire with close ties to the lord of vampires, Dracula, was able to survive all these years without detection from other vampire hunters? How exactly can a vampire transfer his blood into a human's blood system? The only thing I know is that a human can become a vampire if a vampire sucks the human's blood. I don't know anything about vampires engaging in blood transfusion with humans. One more thing, how could there be a vampire that's not weak against silver nitrate? Steve Hopkins, the one who's in charge of the Golden Rifles' operations said he and his team pumped rounds and rounds of silver nitrate bullets into this vampire girl and this girl even got stabbed in the heart with a silver stake. That girl was supposed to be a pile of ash and dust but none of the bullets killed her, not even the stake. Hopkins said all of her injuries just healed up. In return the girl killed half of Hopkins' team with a sword. God, I'm telling you, thinking about a young female vampire who can't be killed by any vampire hunter and who carries a big sword scared me shitless. I sure didn't want to come across this girl. If it were so I had be armed with a nuclear warhead because I was sure that twelve magazine clips loaded with silver nitrate bullets wouldn't do me any good against this girl.

It takes an estimated thirty minutes for me to arrive in the outskirts of this town called Cuidad Puebla . This place is broken down, unemployment is in record numbers and hookers roam wild in the streets. I can hear one or two people speaking Spanish. They're having a big argument. The translation I can make is "What the fuck you doing sleeping with my wife, motherfucker?" I shake my head and laugh, then I ride on. I was very tired, tired from a long ride from downtown L.A. to Mexico. The time I arrived near Cuidad Puebla it was already after sunset. My eyes were getting heavy when suddenly I looked up and realized I was approaching a motel. Heaven. I think I'll stay here for the night. After parking my bike outside I went inside to pay for a room. Luckily for me the owners of the motel accepted no more than $5 U.S. I looked around the lobby and saw three Latino men and one Latino woman walking pass me and smiling. Rather than accepting the warm welcome I felt very uncomfortable. I walked up the stairs, then down the hall and found the place where I would be staying for the night: room 306.

After washing up I undressed to my vest and my pants and threw myself in bed. I laid there twisting and turning. God is it hard to get any sleep in a bed that doesn't belong to you. I hate it when I'm in situations like this. I think about Danny, about what he was probably doing at that moment. Even though it was pretty much a love-hate relationship between us I was hoping that he was alright. I was hoping that he wouldn't get hurt on a certain mission because I knew if that happened I wouldn't be at his side. I wouldn't even know what happened to him because I had nothing to contact him with. I relieved myself of all communication equipment because I didn't want Danny to be on my ass all of a sudden when I'm in a shit hole like this. I wouldn't be able to come up with a good answer as to what my whereabouts were, if you know what I mean. What if he does make a call and I'm not there, not there to answer? He'd start getting suspicious. God I hope that doesn't happen.

I then started to think about what lied ahead in my journey to find out who's Mina Harker. I closed my eyes seeing if I could get some sleep as well. There were now three people I was after: Mina Harker, the Bride of Dracula and a young female vampire with a sword who's immune to silver nitrate. What do these three have in common? Let's start with Mina Harker. In two cases it seems that the vampires are scared shitless of this girl. What are her tactics? What group does she belong to? About the Bride of Dracula, exactly how can a vampire feed on vampire blood? Why is she so different from other vampires? Well, for one thing she was the woman in Count Dracula's life. Behind every successful man there's woman. Let's turn to the girl that Steve Hopkins and his comrades came across way back in 1988. This was a vampire that couldn't be killed by silver nitrate bullets and one stake. How could it be? Who is this girl anyway? How come she wasn't picked up by any other vampire hunter? One more question, could Mina Harker, the Bride of Dracula and this sword wielding female vampire be one group of vampire hunters? One may come to this conclusion because they all seem to be extraordinary and at least two of them are feared by the vampires…..Now how could I be so sure of that? The buck doesn't stop here. I need to get more info, first thing tomorrow.

I turned to my left to a closed window with the full moon shining bright as day. I laid there on my side for about five minutes, trying my very best to get some sleep. Apparently the moon was keeping awake. Suddenly the moon was blocked from my face and I felt two cold hands touch my right arm and I heard someone breathe very close to my ear. I opened my eyes to see the torso of a man in front of me and I looked up to see the man trying to reach for my neck. This man had fangs and his eyes were glowing yellow. I reached under my pillow and pulled out my H&K USP pistol and fired seven shots into the man's body at close range. The man dropped to floor into one pile of ash and dust. This guy was a fucking vampire. I sat up and saw another man standing at the door, a Latino man whose eyes were yellow and he also had fangs. He yelled "Motherfucker!" in Spanish and pulled out a UZI. I fired five shots and the guy turned into ash and dust. There was a drawer next to me which had my other H&K USP pistol and my twelve magazine clips. I grabbed my weapon and ammo and threw on my trench coat. Before you know it here comes two other Latinos busting in the room, one armed with a twelve gage shotgun and another armed with an H&K MP 5K submachine gun. These guys were also vampires. In an instant I fired three shots at the one armed with the H&K MP5K and he fell down dead in a pile of ash and dust. I swung and fired four shots at the other Latino vampire who fired his shotgun blindly and soon became nothing but burning ash and dust. My gun was out of ammo and I soon put in a new clip and ran out of the room barefooted.

Stepping out of my room I ended up in the long hallway with my bare feet on the cold floor with my gun pointed straight in front of me. I suddenly heard multiple voices speaking Spanish growing louder and louder down the hall. I heard loud footsteps coming up the stairs. Suddenly about three Latino men appeared, one armed with an H&K MP5, another one armed with a M4 Carbine rifle and the last one armed with a UZI pistol; another batch of vampires. I was able to fire three shots that took out the one armed with the UZI. I then ran to the end of the hall and took cover on the left side. I slid and fell on my ass and turned into the hall and fired five shots at the Latino vampires' position. They fired back chipping away pieces of the wall from where I was taking cover. This situation was awfully similar to another situation: the raid at Louis King's house. Dejavu. I got up and ran down the other hall and hid behind the wall. I could hear the pounding of footsteps on the wooden floor as I heard the men come closer to my position. At that moment I pulled out one of the silver stakes that was tucked in my coat. I squeezed onto it tight as I could almost sense one of the men coming close. With both hands I swung the stake into the hall not knowing what to hit. I felt my hands stop and I saw that the stake was in one of the vampires' chest. He screamed as he turned into ash and dust. The other one then came and I grabbed onto his neck and jumped on his back. This guy was pretty big and I was pretty small, but I wasn't gonna let go. The Latino bloodsucker spun around and fired his H&K MP5 aimlessly around the hall. He started banging me against the walls and I tried to choke him with his weapon. When he started to bang my head against the wall I thought that was the last straw. I pulled out another stake and drove it in his chest from above. The way he was banging me against the wall I found it hard to dig it deep in. In order to kill vampires you have to drive the stake straight in his heart but I was only halfway. I held on tight on the stake as the vampire continued to bang me against the wall. Suddenly he screamed in pain and turned into ash and dust and I came down with him. He was finally dead. I landed right on top of his burning remains and screamed in pain. Motherfucker, this shit burns! I then got up and ran down the hall, all the way to the lobby.

Running down the stairs on my two bare feet I found myself back in the lobby. It was quiet. No one was even behind the desk. From there I thought I was safe. Suddenly I heard a bullet ricochet off a wall and then I heard machine gunfire coming from the opposite direction aimed right at me. I dived over the desk and suddenly the gunfire stopped. I rose slowly and saw the opened front door that led to the outside. Outside was empty with nothing but a few passing cars and some streetlights. Suddenly the gunfire started again. I dived for cover as bullets chipped away pieces of the concrete desk and the wall. I moved from behind the desk staying low and ran into a nearby room. I locked the door and hid behind a desk then all of a sudden the gunfire stopped once more. The room was so small with nothing but a chair and a desk. This room turned out to be an office. I suddenly heard the door knob clicking as if someone was trying to open the door. The clicking stopped and what followed was machine gunfire as bullets blasted through the door. There was a thud and the door swung open violently to reveal a Latino woman armed with what appeared to be two Beretta M93R machine pistols. This woman looked familiar. She was one of the friendly occupants who gave me a smile which made my blood crawl. This woman also turned out to be another motherfucking vampire. She started looking around and sniffing. I forgot; vampires have an advanced sense of smell to pick up the scent of humans. She then turned to my direction. I think she spotted me. I then appeared in her presence, lying on my side pointing my gun up to her. "Drop the guns, Bitch!" I yelled in Spanish. "Drop the fucking guns right now!"

"Freeze, bitch! You're fucking dead!" she responded.

"DROP 'EM! DROP 'EM RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

"I'M PULLING THE TRIGGER, BITCH! I'M GONNA BLOW YOUR FUCKING BRAINS TO KINGDOM COME!"

Back and forth we yelled at each other at the top of our lungs. It lasted for about ten seconds. This had to end. I knew I had a better chance at pulling the trigger first but then again, this chick wasn't fucking around. All the while I was scared shitless, but at the same time I tried my best not to show it because as a vampire that woman could sense my fear and use it against me. We both kept yelling at each other, pointing the gun at each other's faces. Suddenly there were about seven gunshots. Multiple gunshot wounds entered the woman's body and she fell dead into a pile of ash and dust. I then heard multiple footsteps running my way. I got up and saw two Latino men entering the office, one armed with a Walther P99 pistol and the other one armed with a UZI. Looking at them closely I realized they were humans. "Are you alright?" the one with the smoking Walther P99 said to me.

"Yeah," I said. "Who are you guys?"

"We're members of Rojas la Noche. I'm Perez Morales and this Enrique Manuel. We're vampire hunters."

"Well, Yo soy Anna Van Helsing."

"You're American?"

"Yeah."

"But you speak Spanish."

"Well I've been in and out of Mexico hunting vampires just like you guys."

"You're a vampire hunter too?" asked Enrique Manuel.

"Yeah," I said. "How did you guys know I was in trouble?"

"We didn't," said Perez Morales. "We've been keeping surveillance on this place for a long time now. This is a motel where vampires take up victims."

"Really?" I said. I then thought "Well how come I didn't know that the whole fucking time?"

"You're really lucky to be alive. We came as soon as we heard you arguing with the bitch. She happens to be the member of a vampire clan we've been tracking down. Is there any reason why you're here?"

"We'll I'm in Mexico to find these bounty hunters called The Road Dogs. They may have some vital information on some weird shit that's been happening in L.A."

"Well come to our place and you can talk all about it."

I was able to put on my shoes and follow Perez Morales and Enrique Manuel who led me to their way of travel. "You dig bikes too?" I said.

"Always have and always will," said Morales. We all started up our engines and sped away to what would be their casa.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Anna Van Helsing meets Perez Morales and Enrique Manuel, members of the vampire hunters Rojas la Noche after engaging in a firefight with armed vampires in a motel that lies on the outskirts of a town along the U.S./Mexican border. Anna arrives at the border to find a group of bounty hunters known as The Road Dogs in hopes to solving the mystery of Mina Harker. Anna also hopes to uncover the true indentity of the Bride of Dracula and a young female vampire who walks with a sword and who is strong against silver nitrate._**

**Chapter 9 **

I'm riding through the streets of Ciudad Puebla, a town that lies along the U.S./Mexican border. I arrived at the border to find these bounty hunters who called themselves The Road Dogs. At my left there's Perez Morales and at my right there's Enrique Manuel, vampire hunters belonging to the group Rojas la Noche. I met these guys when I stepped in some real dog shit at that motel with the thoughts of getting some rest after traveling for so long to get to the border. I'm tellin' ya, I almost had my brains all over the fucking floor at that shit hole. I didn't know that vampires were using that motel to pick up new victims. Anyway, Morales, Manuel and I finally arrived at their home, a nine storey apartment building that lied within the heart of Ciudad Puebla. That area around that part of town was pretty noisy. I could hardly hear myself think. Morales and Manuel's apartment number was 265 on the sixth floor of the apartment building. They both gave me something to eat and we all agreed to talk about my journey right after a long night's rest.

At the break of day Morales, Manuel and I gathered in the living room where I was lectured about their group. Rojas la Noche first started in 2002 and membership grew to about 50. However, they had to disperse into several different cells after several arrest warrants were issued to some members after their activities were discovered by some Mexican government officials. Morales was certain that vampires were somehow pulling the strings within some branches of the Mexican government. I told them some things about my background being careful not to give away too much detail. I then started to tell them about the real reasons why I was in Mexico. "In my hometown of L.A. there's been some crazy shit going on," I said. "I was in this raid on a bar to take down six members of this vampire clan called Damien's Hand. All of them were dead already when I got there. One of them managed to survive. He gave me a name. He said some girl named Mina Harker did all that."

"Who's Mina Harker?" said Morales.

"That's what I'm trying to find out myself. Anyway, there was another time when some of my comrades found the body of this vampire. This guy's body was all dried up and there were tooth marks in his neck."

"Wait, wait, wait, did you say he was dried up and there were tooth marks in his neck?" said Morales.

"Yeah," I said. Morales and Manuel started talking to each other in Spanish for a few seconds. "Yeah that's the Bride of Dracula you're talking about," said Morales.

"What?" I said.

"The Bride of Dracula did that," said Manuel.

"How do you know that," I said taking keen interest.

"Two years ago we were coming across vampires looking all dried up with tooth marks in their necks just like that guy you're talking about," said Morales. "There was one vampire elder we tracked down, Jose Salinas. When we cornered him he was dying already looking the same way: all dried up, like somebody sucked him dry. The last thing he said was "El Novia de Dracula", The Bride of Dracula. We didn't know what to make of it back then but we were starting to round up vampires who saying that the Bride of Dracula was out to get them and that we'd better watch out for the Final Dawn."

"What's the Final Dawn?"

"I don't know. Some sword they say she carries."

A sword? The Bride of Dracula carries a sword too? I was just shell shocked. I then thought of Steve Hopkins' story of a female vampire who killed some of his comrades with a sword. I just couldn't believe that I was after another vampire chick carrying a sword. "Well, is there anything else you know about the Bride of Dracula?" I said.

"Well, all we know that the Bride of Dracula probably killed about 120 vampires in Mexico already," said Morales.

"She was in Mexico?" I asked.

"Well that's what those motherfuckers are saying," said Manuel. "Why?"

"Well I think she's been in L.A. for some time. I did some surveillance on this vampire elder and I found out that the Bride of Dracula was responsible for the death of another vampire elder. I went to this group of vampire hunters and they told me about the same thing you were talking about. They were picking up dead vampires that were all dried up with tooth marks in their necks. They then told me about this vampire girl they came across some years ago. The thing about it is they couldn't kill this girl."

"What do mean they couldn't kill her?"

"I don't know. It was like the girl was strong against silver nitrate. The bullets didn't kill her and she couldn't be killed by a stake."

"Aw, shit," said Manuel in Spanish.

"Have you guys ever came across something like that?" I said.

"Nope," said Morales. "I sure hope we don't. How could that be, huh? How can a vampire be strong against silver nitrate?"

"That's what I'd like to know," I said. "Anyway, I'm looking for a bunch of guys called The Road Dogs. Have you ever heard of them?"

"Well, we teamed up with them already," said Morales. "They're the best."

"Really? Do you know how I can reach them?"

"Well, go to the Arguello neighborhood just south of here. Get to Juarez Street and to go the last of five houses on the left side. You can't miss that one."

"Thanks," I said. "I really appreciate it. Adios. Muchas Gracias." With those words I left the apartment.

Riding on my bike through the streets of the border town of Ciudad Puebla I began to think about the info I got from Perez Morales and Enrique Manuel. It seems that the Bride of Dracula was in Mexico for some time. It's also apparent that she carries a sword as well. What a fancy name for a sword: Final Dawn. It has to be really important to this girl. What I really wanna know is how she got this sword? What kind of sword is it? Who made the sword? I don't know anything about vampires carrying around swords. Maybe I should ask Danny. Yeah. He really digs that ninja shit.

Right now I was approaching a sign that read Spanish. I could read it. It says "You are now approaching Arguello." Yes, I've made it. As I'm riding through this lonely town I could see that were some people looking at me. Oh, God, not again. I approached a corner and turned in riding down the long road. As I ride down this road there's one or two people staring me down. Now that was very uncomfortable. The way how they were staring at me just made me wanna walk over and pump a few shots in their asses. Just because it's day doesn't mean I don't know who you really are, shit face. Even at day you can't shake off the fact that there's a vampire on your ass. Anyway, I can't let that bother me. I've got more important things to worry about.

The heat was starting to kick in as I approach a neighborhood. There's a street sign that reads "Juarez Street". I'm here. This neighborhood seemed pretty lonely except for a few kids playing soccer in streets, a few passing cars, some folks talking on the porches of their houses and a guying waving to me saying "Buenos Tardes". Go fuck yourself, pal. Like I said, they're everywhere. I turn to my left and these words pop up in my head "Go to the last of five houses on the left. You can't miss that one." I stopped my bike in front of the last of a row of five houses. I walked up a flight of three stairs, took seven steps across the wooden porch and knocked on the door. The first time I knocked there was no answer. I knocked a second time, still no answer. I stood there for a few seconds thinking I rode through that town in this hot-ass weather for nothing. Let me try again. I began pounding on the door, then I stopped. Few seconds later the door knob clicked and the door cracked open. Before you know it I was staring down the barrel of a twelve gauge shotgun and there was a man standing behind it with his finger on the trigger. "What the fuck are you doing here?" the tall, bald-headed, green eyed man said in an American accent.

"I'm…I'm Anna Van Helsing…" I said with my voice shaking. "I'm…"

"I didn't ask you that!" the man said cutting me off. "What're you doing on our fucking property?"

"Um…I was told by these guys who belonged to Rojas la Noche that you would be here."

"What? How'd you know about them?"

"Well…I …uh…"

"Get your ass in here!"

The man grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me in the house. He then ordered me to walk ahead of him and I obeyed with my hands up. He had his gun pointed in my back as he led me to what appeared to be a kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen there were about four guys seated at a table, three were white and one was Hispanic. They looked like they were loading weapons until they all stopped and focused their attention on me. "Hey guys, look at the pile of shit I shoveled up," said the man who had his shotgun pointed at me.

"Who the fuck are you?" said one of the men.

"Anna Van Helsing," I said. The blue eyed, browed haired, unshaven man stood up and walked up to me. "You with the Feds?" he asked looking down at me.

"No," I said.

"Let's search her." The two men started passing their hands all over my body, all under my arms, between my legs, across my chest and across my buttocks. The man who fixed his shotgun on me smiled as he past his hands across my breasts. At that moment I wanted to grab that gun of his and paint the walls with his fucking brains. They stopped as one of the men felt something hard in the back of my pants. The other man with the shotgun felt something hard in my pockets. The two men then pulled out all the hard objects from my clothes and placed them on the table. What they found were my H&K USP pistols and seven magazine clips. "That's big arsenal for somebody who's not a Fed," said the unshaven man. "You sure you're not lying to me?"

"I told you already I'm not working for anybody," I said.

"Let's search her again, Dale. I think she's wired," said the man with the shotgun.

"No, that's enough," Dale said. "Care to tell me why you're here?"

"Well, there have been some things going on in L.A. where I came from," I said. I pause for a few seconds thinking if I should tell them about the Bride of Dracula because first of all, I wasn't sure if I had found the right people. I took a deep breath and said "I'm…I'm after the Bride of Dracula."

"The what?" said Dale.

"The…The Bride of Dracula. You see…I'm …I'm a vampire hunter. In L.A. I came across the leader of these vampire hunters who told me about these guys who call themselves The Road Dogs. They told me that The Road Dogs were bounty hunters who also hunted vampires. I also came across these guys who were part of these vampire hunters called Rojas la Noche who were with The Road Dogs once and they told me I would find The Road Dogs here."

"Well you're in luck. We happen to be members of The Road Dogs. I'm Dale Harris. You've met Alex Ventura. These guys here are Joe Richards, Ed Norris and Marc Mendez."

"Um, do you have a leader?"

"Yeah, but he ain't here. I'm in charge while he's gone."

"Okay, well, um, do you think you wanna talk about the Bride of Dracula right now?"

"Aw, shit. I'd really like to talk about that right now but we're getting ready for a raid. You'll have to wait 'til later. Ed, let's roll. Joe, Marc, Alex, you stay with her while we're gone."

"No, wait. I'm coming with you."

"Sorry, that ain't gonna happen."

"I wanna met your leader."

"Look, Annie. You don't mind if I call you Annie do you?"

"You can call anything you want as long as you take me with you."

"Hear me out, all right. I've been through a lot of shit through the week already. I just met you. Do you know who we're going after? A well known vampire leader who practically has an army to back him up. Your death is the last thing I want on my conscience right now."

"Well, if you're gonna leave me here it's best you put one in my head right now."

Dale sighed and placed his hands over his face. "Alright, you can come along," he said. "I just wanna get you off my ass while I'm still young." Dale, together with Ed, a blonde cutie, strapped on some clothes and boots and later armed themselves with SIG Sauer P2340 pistols and H&K MP 5K and UMP submachine guns. I retrieved my H&K USP pistols and my magazine clips. "Anything else you wanna carry?" said Dale. I was given the choice between an H&K MP5, an H&K MP 5K and an H&K UMP. I took the H&K UMP. I was led to the back of the house to Dale's car. Dale, Ed and I boarded the car and we all drove off down the long road.

In the car I just sat there. I was told that we were gonna met up with The Road Dogs' leader and about fifteen others in the town of Rio de Leon. Their mission was to take down this vampire leader named Benito Valdez. They said he was 425 years old and ran this vampire clan called The Rivers of Eternity. The leader of The Road Dogs and the others kept a stakeout on Valdez's estate earlier in the day and they told me he just called them to grab their gear and get ready. Dale then lectured me about the history of the Road Dogs. He said that they started way back in 1976 when they offered assistance to the federal government in tracking down notorious criminals that were crossing the border. That job soon changed when one of their comrades was killed by a vampire. It so happened that a few Mexican vampire hunters discovered their situation and offered assistance to The Road Dogs. The Road Dogs were trained and given equipment to handle vampires and from that moment on they were doing the jobs of catching wanted criminals and hunting vampires. "What about you?" Dale said. "Where do you come up in all this?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said. "All I could tell you is that I was doing this since I was fifteen."

"Really?" said Ed. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," I said.

"God, you look like you're twelve or something!"

"So what is it about this Bride of Dracula you wanna talk about?" Dale said with his eyes focused on the road.

"Well…,all I can tell you is that I think that the Bride of Dracula's responsible for the deaths of three vampire elders," I said. "I just wanna know if you happen to know anything at all about that woman?"

"I gotta be honest with you; I don't know shit about that. You'll have to ask the big man."

"Okay, if you say so." Well that was helpful!

We finally arrived in Rio de Leon and after a thirty minute drive we arrived in this neighborhood called Cortes Cruz. By the time we arrived it was already nightfall. When we arrived we met two black vans. I was led to the last van. Dale and Ed opened the doors and led me inside. There were computer monitors and monitors showing what appeared to be surveillance footage of at least five areas of a house. There was a man bending down to look at one of the monitors. "Hey, Bill we've made it," Dale said to the man. The man, dressed all in black combat gear turned and looked at Dale, Ed and I. "Who's her?" he said.

"Oh, uh, this is Anna Van Helsing. She's a vampire hunter. She'll be joining us tonight," Dale said. "Anna this is Bill Conner, our leader."

"Nice to meet you Anna," said Conner.

"Oh, you can call me Annie," I said. Dale then pointed to a girl in the corner who was loading bullets in a magazine clip. "That's Paulina Velez," Dale said "She can't speak English so…"

" It's okay. I've got no problem with that," I said. I walked over and shook the girl's hand. "Hola, Soy Anna Van Helsing," I said to her. Dale then introduced me to Paulina in Spanish. "You guys have any idea what you're bringing this girl into?" said Conner.

"I tried to tell her to stay but she won't get off my ass," Dale said. "She wants to talk to you about somebody called the Bride of Dracula or something like that." Bill just froze with a shocked stare. Great I think I'm getting somewhere. "Do you think you wanna talk about it?" Dale said.

"Later," Conner said. "We gotta join the others." Motherfucker. Conner and Paulina armed themselves with H&K UMP and H&K MP5K submachine guns and stepped out of the van. Dale, Ed and I soon followed. We then met thirteen other men dressed in black combat gear armed with H&K MP5, H&K MP5K and H&K UMP submachine guns. Eight were white and five were Latinos. We all then formed a circle and Conner told us to bow our heads in prayer before we set out on our mission. After a two minute prayer we were ordered to move out and we all started running. We were running for about two minutes until we reached this estate. Apparently we parked just a few blocks from this area. This estate was beautiful. The house was probably three stories high and there were palm trees everywhere which would give you the impression that it was a beach resort. Dale told me that this was the estate of Benito Valdez, their chosen target. My heart just started pounding. I didn't realize this was serious shit I was getting myself into. At that moment I was thinking if I'll ever make it through the night or die alongside people who I don't even know. If I'm to die at least let it not be in vain. Goodbye, Danny. I'm coming to join you, Dad.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Anna Van Helsing has finally met the members of the group called The Road Dogs. In an earlier chat with vampire hunters Perez Morales and Enrique Manuel she found out that the Bride of Dracula, the person she is searching for, has been roaming in Mexico. Anna also finds out that the Bride of Dracula also welds a sword called The Final Dawn. Anna joins two members of The Road Dogs who then travels to a neighborhood to meet their leader Bill Conner. Anna associates herself with them in order to find out more about the Bride of Dracula. The only problem was that night The Road Dogs were going to initiate a raid on the estate of vampire elder Benito Valdez. Anna was warned of the possible dangers that she would face in this raid, but Anna refuses to back down. In this raid someone is going to live and someone is going to die. Which category will Anna fall into? _ **

**Chapter 10 **

September 12th, 2005. It's been exactly two days that I've been in Mexican territory. Two days earlier I traveled to the U.S./Mexican border acting on advice from George Hunt, the leader of the vampire hunters Golden Rifles Association in order to find bounty hunters called The Road Dogs. I wanted to find these guys in order to finally solve the mystery of the Bride of Dracula. The Bride of Dracula wasn't initially my object of interest. There was this name that really bit my ass the day I first heard it: Mina Harker.

There were two incidents where her name popped up. Six members of the vampire group Damien's Hand were killed where one vampire who was close to death was able to give me the name of the one who was responsible: Mina Harker. Mina Harker came out of a confession from the survivor of a fucked up party that was thrown by the leader of The Kin of Ekimmu, Donavon Bradley in which he and all occupants of his estate died, except one. Obtaining files from my good friend Emily Lambert, I was able to descend upon my first target of interest: Nicolas White, the leader of The Omnipotent. In a meeting with one named Max Heinrich, I found out that one called the Bride of Dracula was responsible for the death of Max's brother, Gabriel Heinrich. Gabriel Heinrich was a vampire elder who led the group Neo Lunar whose body was found sucked out dry. The funny thing about it was that he had tooth marks in his neck. I found out that this Bride of Dracula had a knack for sucking on the blood of other vampires. I also found out from Golden Rifles Association that nine of its members were killed by this girl carrying a sword. Another thing to add to this story is that this girl was strong against silver nitrate. I was told to go the Mexican Border to find The Road Dogs in order to find out more about the Bride of Dracula. I stumbled upon these guys who belonged to this group of vampire hunters called Rojas la Noche after I got into some real shit at a motel where vampires were picking up new victims. I found out that the Bride of Dracula was around in Mexico for some time and she also carries this sword called The Final Dawn. It so happened that Perez and Enrique knew The Road Dogs so they told me to find them in this neighborhood south of the border town of Ciudad Puebla.

I eventually found some members of the Roads Dogs, but not without having a gun stuck up in my face and being molested after being accused of being a Fed. One of them, Dale Harris, was in charge while their leader was away. He was going to meet their leader in a town called Rio de Leon where their leader was keeping a stake out of the estate of this 425 vampire elder named Benito Valdez, the leader of The Rivers of Eternity. I wanted to join them in order to meet their leader. I wasn't listening to Dale Harris when he told me that he and his comrades were gonna wake up a hornet's nest, I just wanted to flush out any info their leader had about the Bride of Dracula. I was given a black combat uniform to wear, combat boots and a Heckler & Koch UMP submachine gun. Harris and I were joined by Ed Norris, who was probably the sexiest man I've met. I was taken to this neighborhood in Cortez Cruz where I eventually met the leader of The Road Dogs, Bill Conner. After a brief meeting we joined up with the rest of the members of The Road Dogs. Together with thirteen members of the group, we all made up a team of seventeen. Apparently the only girls in this team were me and a girl named Paulina Velez. We all ran in single file to the huge estate of Benito Valdez. The only question in my mind was would I live through this night and continue with my journey to find out the true identity of the Bride of Dracula or would I be buried on Mexican soil while Danny knows nothing of it?

Running for about thirty seconds we finally reached the gates of Benito Valdez's estate. Carrying ladders we were able to scale the walls and land flat on vampire territory with the huge house as our lead. We were prepped about our mission an hour before with Bill Conner warning us that other vampire hunters were close to killing Valdez but never lived to tell the story. We were warned that this mission was extremely dangerous and that their intelligence stated that Valdez had about fifty guards armed with the best weapons on the black market. This mission was to last no longer than 45 minutes. Usually with me I would get to know about a vampire elder's identity through surveillance footage or something like that. If I'm going after a vampire and I don't know how he looks like that's when it becomes hard for me. When I know a certain vampire looks I can determine what the advantages and disadvantages are. When I met Bill Conner I wasn't shown any kind of footage regarding the physical appearance of Benito Valdez. Now that was some real shit I was in. But either way, looks can be deceiving.

Once we landed on the Valdez compound we dispersed in our respected teams. In our team of seventeen we separated ourselves into small groups called "Pins". Conner, Norris, Velez and I, together with another guy named Pedro Diaz, formed Pin 2. Dale Harris fell into this group called Pin 3. The plan was for Pin1 to enter the front, Pin 2 to enter the back and for Pins 3 and 4 to enter into anyone of the windows of the house. Members of Pin 1 stopped and kneeled down aiming their weapons waiting for me and the members of Pin 2 to move up. Conner, Norris, Velez, Diaz and I moved ahead in single file. As we moved ahead I could hear the footsteps of Pin 1 behind us. The members of Pin 2 and I finally descended around the back of the house towards the back door. I watched Velez move ahead to place a plastic explosive on the door. How come I never get to do something like that? As she was fixing the bomb on the door I could hear glass breaking and gunfire erupting. It was soon followed buy the thud of a plastic explosive in the front and the screams of women. In an instant beads of cold sweat began to form on my forehead and my heart started to beat at a fast paste. When Velez was finished fixing the plastic explosive on the door she set the timer and we all moved out of the way. In about ten seconds the bomb exploded with a thud and the door swung open and in single file we all moved in.

We entered in what appeared to be a kitchen when suddenly two guys appeared in our sights armed with a UZI and a twelve gage shotgun. We fired immediately taking out both leaving them to turn into ash and dust. We left the kitchen running over the vampires' burning remains and entered the living room. We found women running and screaming trying to escape as members of Pin 1 were engaging heavy resistance from about seven guards armed with H&K MP, H&K MPK submachine guns and Colt Commando rifles and one armed with a Colt Double Eagle Commander pistol. It was hell. Members of Pin 1 were taking cover behind the walls of a nearby dining room and the opposing side took cover behind the walls of another room. Bullets were flying left to right destroying pieces of the furniture and chipping away at the walls scattering debris into the air. Pin 1 and I joined the fight. I followed Conner as he took cover behind the wall at the right of Pin 1 and we both blasted away at Valdez's guards. I turned to my left and saw Norris, Velez and Diaz firing from behind the walls of the kitchen. My face screwed as I pointed my weapon at the opposing post and fired away. My body was entirely exposed as I fired the guards' position. I had a blurred vision of one of the guards falling into a pile of burning ash and dust. I turned away and saw Conner firing his H&K MP5K at the guards' post; He then turned away down and started to reload his weapon. At that moment I pointed my weapon and fired widely taking out two more guards. "I got three!" I said.

"Damn," said Conner. "I didn't think you were that good a shooter." We both pointed our weapons at the enemy's side and fired away. Suddenly we saw the four remaining guards run away. It appeared to be all over for the moment. We all came out from our defending post and some reloaded their weapons. "How's it going so far Dale?" said Conner. "Where's Valdez?"

"He ran upstairs with a couple more guys. Al and his team are right on their asses."

"Alright, we're gonna have to split up. You guys go right, we're gonna go upstairs." Suddenly I heard a crackling in Conner's headset. All I could've made out was the shouts of a man and probably the sound of gunfire. "Alright, Al, we're on our way," said Conner. "We gotta move. Al's pinned down up the stairs." I slipped in a new magazine clip in my weapon and followed Conner and the rest of Pin 1 upstairs. Wait a minute, I've been here before; God, not again.

We reached the top and turned into a hall and proceeded to run down the end. Motherfucker! As Conner stepped out first about six guys armed with H&K MP5K, H&K MP5 submachine guns, Colt Commander rifles, a UZI and one FAMAS-1 rifle. At least four of the guys looked familiar; they were the same guys that we engaged with downstairs. They blasted their weapons in our position, every bullet chipping away the walls. One piece of the wall somehow managed to cut me over my right eyebrow. Fuck, that hurt like shit! It was like I was slashed with a knife. I started to bleed profoundly from my wound, then, in a fit of range I stood up and fired a blast into the enemy's post. I didn't hit anybody. Shit. Velez, however, managed to take out one of the guys while lying on her stomach. In the intense gun battle I looked over at Conner and saw him pull out a small object from his pocket. He pressed a small button and the object made an eerie beep. He then threw it at the opposing post. "Fall back!" he yelled. As we all pulled away there was a loud explosion and a piercing white light soon followed. There were then screams from the opposing post and suddenly silence. The members of Pin 2 and I got up from the floor and walked to what was left of the opposing post. The walls of the hallway were stained in black and floor was littered with burning skeletal remains. "What the fuck was that?" I said puzzled.

"An M-1 flash bang," said Conner. "It's designed to give off ultra rays of light to kill vampires. It's the first time we're using it."

"Holy shit!" I said. Suddenly there was crackling in Conner's headset again. The only thing I could make out was "Go to the right. You'll see some stairs." It's probably Al. "Al's this way. Let's go!" said Conner leading the way.

We turned to the right and found a long corridor. See what I mean? Fuck! As we started to run down this corridor we heard the faint sound of gunfire. The further we ran the louder the gunfire increased. At the right we met this flight of stairs. The loud gunfire was coming from up these stairs. In single file we ran up the flight of about twelve stairs and met what appeared to be a library. So Valdez likes to read, huh? There wasn't any time to stop and look up a few bestsellers because at that moment a huge firefight was underway. Pin 2 and I took cover as bullets started to fly over our heads. We hid behind one of about thirteen book shelves defending ourselves from an unseen force. The book shelves just made a maze in this huge room. I suddenly heard a thud above us. I appeared to be the only one to have heard it because the others were too distracted by the noise of the gunfire. A Latino man was standing at the top of the bookshelf we were taking cover from. This guy was armed with a Heckler & Koch Gewehr 36 assault rifle pointing right at us. He was a vampire. In an instant I aimed my weapon at him and blasted away at him alerting the others. Conner, Norris, Velez and Diaz turned their heads into my direction to see the burning remains of the vampire that was right over us. "Whoa, thanks for getting our backs," said Norris. Hey, anything for you, babes.

Suddenly I saw a man running and stopping to take cover from about ten feet away from us. Velez saw him too and alerted Conner. The man was dressed in a black combat uniform, with black hair, blue eyes and armed with an H&K MP UMP. We all ran towards him and Conner said "Al, thank God we caught up with you." Al's full name was Al Middleton. I was introduced to him and many others before we initiated our mission. Al was the leader of Pin 3. "Whoa, real good timing, Bill," said Middleton.

"Where's the rest of your team?" said Conner.

"All over the fucking place; they're trying to save their own dicks right now in this shit hole."

"Any sign of Tony and his team?"

"We got separated after we ran in some hot shit in the back there."

"What about Valdez?"

"Lost him."

"What do you mean you lost him?" Suddenly a vampire armed with a Mac 10 submachine gun jumped on top of the bookshelf we were taking cover from and aimed his weapon at Middleton. "Al, look out!" a man yelled. A young man probably in his early twenties, with brown hair and hazel eyes ran and pushed Al away from the vampire's line of fire. The Latino vampire pulled the trigger of his Mac 10 and fired a blast at the man shooting him seven times, killing him instantly. We all aimed our weapons our weapons at the vampire firing several rounds, finally bringing him down to a pile of ash and dust. Al ran up the young man and held him in his arms. The man's eyes were already rolled back in his head. "Oh my God, Darryl!" said Al. Within that moment about seven vampires were flying in the air and landing on the bookshelves. We all ran for cover anywhere possible. The vampires were just jumping from bookshelf to bookshelf firing their weapons trying to catch us. Bullets were chipping away at the wooden shelves and hitting the books sending paper flying into the air. We all hid behind one shelf taking cover. I rested my chin against the shelf trying to catch my breath when all of a sudden I looked up and saw a female Latino vampire armed with an H&K MP5K pointing right at me. I fired my weapon at her instantly turning her into ash and dust. At moment three other vampires, two men, one woman, landed in front us aiming their weapons at us. Conner, Middleton, Norris, Diaz, Velez and I ran away down a line of three bookshelves trying to escape. Two vampires then appeared at the top of the third bookshelf and at that moment we all broke apart. This wasn't intentional, but when your life's on the line shit tends to happen.

I ran down a column of two shelves and started squatting. I started to breathe hard as I began to realize that I was virtually alone in this shit hole of a library. Conner, Norris, Velez and Diaz were no longer by my side. That really bites the ass. I started to get the feeling that there was a vampire at the top of the shelf where I was hiding behind. I raised my head slowly ready to look at death in the eyes. As my eyes focused at the top I realized to my astonishment there was nobody there. Thank God. Before I could breathe I sigh of relief I vampire armed with a Colt Commander Rifle appeared in my presence. I watched in horror as he just stood there firing away from his weapon. He was firing at a different direction. I then stood up and fired away at him. His burning remains then fell down and I stepped out of the way leaving it to land on the ground. I started to run through this maze of fucking bookshelves and then I hid behind the one that was located at the end of the room. I squatted down trying to catch my breath. I started to hyperventilate due to the intense fear that now had control over me. There was nothing but gunfire after gunfire, it was just echoing in the room. There were instances where the gunfire would stop and then start again, stop then start again. There was just no end in sight. I slowly turned to my right and saw a Latino man dressed in black combat gear with a radio headset armed with an H&K G36 submachine gun. He was kneeling and taking cover. He then turned to his left and when he saw me he was startled. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay," I said. "I'm with the team."

"You're Anna Van Helsing, right?" the man said.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"Antonio Rivera."

"Which group you fall in?"

"Pin 4"

"Really? Where are the others?"

"Fuck, man. We ran into Valdez's guys earlier on. There were about fifteen of them. We got separated in the whole fuck up."

"Any sign of Valdez?"

"That pussy's somewhere in this fuck hole, I don't know." This is just great. I'm stuck here in a shit infested library where these motherfuckers won't give us a chance and with a guy whose head is in his ass. "Alfonso, Brent, Miguel, come in!" said Rivera trying to contact the others. It turned out that he was unsuccessful. "Yo. Yeah I'm here with Annie. Come to the end of the room you'll find us. Haul ass!" he then said. "How many of those pricks you got so far?"

"I don't know, probably about six," I said. Rivera didn't respond. He just laid back his head in a defensive position. I then did the same waiting for anything that was coming by the corner.

About ten seconds went by as there were scattered gunfire and screaming from the vampires. Suddenly four vampires landed above us pointing their weapons at us. Rivera and I got up and started to run firing away as we ran to the left corner of the library. We managed to take out two of the vampires in the ensuing escape. We both stopped at the side of the bookshelf and Rivera pointed his weapon at the other side killing the last pursuing vampires. We both started to breathe a sigh of relief when I started to hear footsteps. As they started to grow loud I gripped unto my weapon aimed as I saw a foot appear at the side of me. As I proceeded to squeeze the trigger Rivera stopped me. There were two guys dressed in black combat gear, one white, one Latino, armed with H&K MP5K and H&K UMP submachine guns. Rivera introduced them as Jeff Rivers and Jose Chavez. They were part of Pin 3. Before we initiated this raid I didn't really get to know anybody so Rivera did the honors. "C'mon, we gotta meet the others," Rivers said.

As we walked down the aisle of bookshelves it was evident that this place was all fucked up! The floors were littered with the burning body parts of vampires and of books and pages. There were bullet holes all in the walls and in the bookshelves and human blood was splattered here and there. We reached the top of the library and met Conner, Velez, Diaz, Norris and Middleton who were waiting for us. "So how'd it go for you guys?" asked Conner.

"Well for one thing, we were like a stick in a pile of dog shit," said the brown haired, green eyed Rivers. "We followed Valdez and the dick head escaped through that door over there, that's where we ran into those pricks."

"Well I'm glad you guys are safe," said Middleton.

"C'mon, let's try to catch up with the others and get Velez," said Conner. "Whatever we do, guys, we cannot let that prick leave this estate." We slipped in new clips of ammo and proceeded to the door that was at left corner. I was told that Pin 4 got separated that way. Suddenly there was a thud and the door swung open. A Latino came in through the door. This guy was huge! He was approximately 7ft 2 inches tall probably weighing at about 545 pounds. I saw yellow in his eyes indicating he was clearly a vampire. He was bald and bare backed wearing black pants and black boots. He was armed with a portable mini-gun, the kind of Gatling machine guns used on military helicopters. The huge gun just looked small in his hands. He cocked the mini-gun and pointed it right at us. He smirked and then all of a sudden fired away.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Anna Van Helsing, together with members of bounty hunter/vampire hunters The Road Dogs has initiated the raid on the estate of vampire elder Benito Valdez. Upon entering the estate they have encountered heavy resistance. One has already died in a confusing battle within the library. There is more to follow. _**

**Chapter 11 **

There is the sound of rapid machine gunfire, shell casings are falling and there is a bright flash that lights up the room. All of this is coming from a 7ft 2inch, 520 pound henchman firing from a portable mini-gun. This is a Gatling gun with six rotary barrels that fires 4000-6000 rounds a minute which is fitted unto military helicopters. The minute this guy fired that shit it was everyman for himself (or in this case, every girl for herself too). The first one to get hit was Diaz. The bullets entered his body one by one at fast paste, killing him instantly. He then fell unto the ground with his body nearly ripped in half. Conner, Middleton, Velez, Norris, Antonio Rivera, Jeff Rivers, Jose Chavez and I all made a run for it. We ran in between the bookshelves again all in an attempt to evade the danger of the M 134 mini-gun. The sound this thing made just sent shivers up my spine. It sounded like a bumble bee, only louder. That's a sound you'd never want to hear in your life, _ever_. All eight of us took cover behind one bookshelf. The gunfire suddenly stopped and for a moment it looked like we lost him. We then started hearing the henchman's footsteps pounding on the floor and the sound of the long chain of ammo dragging with every step. Rivers who was at the far right peered at the side to spot any in coming danger, he then pulled back his head. He then gave us this look that was not comforting at all: a look of fear. The henchman was coming our way. He then held up his H&K UMP, gave us a reluctant look and pointed his gun at the henchman. What the fuck are you doing? No! Rivers fired a blast and pulled away quickly; he then got up and started to run. We soon followed him. We then heard the sound of the mini gun firing at the place we were hiding with the bullets ripping away the wooden shelves and the books. We then took cover behind another bookshelf about three feet where we were. "Did you get him?" said Conner.

"Yeah, in the legs," said Rivers.

"You shot him in the legs and he's still walking?" Before Conner could finish chew out Rivers there was suddenly a blast from the mini-gun which hit the top of our second bookshelf. At that, we all got up and ran suddenly appearing in the henchman's eye sight. The henchman fired away at us, missing clearly but chipping out a huge line in the concrete wall.

We all hid behind another bookshelf about ten feet away from the henchman. We all tried catching our breath. We were all exhausted and scared. My hands were so sweaty my H&K UMP would often slip from my hand and I would find difficulty trying to keep a firm grip on it. "Listen up, guys," said Conner "we're never gonna take this fucker down sticking together like this. It's best we split up and try to intercept him. Ed, you and I are gonna go left with Jose and Antonio. Al, you go right with Paulina, Jeff and Annie." We all initiated Conner's plan with Conner, Norris, Rivera and Chavez taking left and Middleton, Rivers, Velez and I taking right.

We started running all over the place, trying to surround this big walking pile of shit who won't give us a break. Whenever the henchman heard our footsteps he'd fire a blast from his mini-gun trying to hit us. Man, this guy's aim is bad! Middleton, Rivers, Velez and I took cover behind a bookshelf just about a couple feet away from the henchman. We all stayed still trying not to make any movement or any sound. There was total silence in the library. The only sound that could be heard is the booming footsteps of the henchman and the dragging of his ammo chain and the one or two little footsteps of Conner and his team. Middleton turned to Velez and told her to move to the left through sign language. After Velez followed his orders he ordered Rivers to go between the two bookshelves and try to take the henchman out through sign language. Through sign language he told me to move far right and try to get his attention. I then looked at him in a shocked stare. What? Are you shitting me? I then move down the long column of bookshelves and then turned left and hid behind the first bookshelf. I crept slowly and peered at the side. I saw the henchman spinning around trying to spot us. I then heard the sound of gunfire and saw the henchman winching. He then turned around and fired a blast at where the gunfire came from. I looked at his back and saw three gunshot wounds in his back. They were sizzling and smoke could be seen rising from them. I then looked at his legs and saw bullet wounds in both thighs. Weak smoke could be seen escaping from his legs. I then took a chance and fired away at him hitting him four times in the chest. I pulled away quickly and started to run. I went back to where I was in hopes to finding Middleton, Velez and Rivers. To my horror I realized they were gone. Oh fuck! I then heard the thundering footsteps of the henchman behind me. He appeared in my presence aiming his min-gun at me. The gunshot wounds in his chest were sizzling and smoking but he wasn't going down. I aimed my weapon at him and started firing away at him and the same time I was backing away. As I was firing away at the henchman I could see the bullets entering his body and him flinching as each bullet struck him. I then turned around and started to run away. I could hear the sound of the mini-gun firing behind me as if it was right on my shoulder. I turned around ready to take another shot at him. He reappeared and pointed the mini-gun right at me and cocked it. "Annie, get down!" I heard someone yell behind me. I ducked and saw Middleton standing over me with his H&K UMP pointing at the henchman. He fired several times hitting the henchman all over his body. The henchman's back hit one of the bookshelves and his left hand released the mini-gun and it started to hang in his right hand. He then regained his posture, held up the mini-gun in his both hands and fired away at Middleton. The bullets rapidly struck Middleton bringing him against the wall finally killing him. Middleton then dropped to the ground and blood ran profusely from his mouth. The henchman then looked down at me and pointed the mini-gun in my face. Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire coming from behind the henchman. I looked up and saw Norris firing away at the giant henchman. The henchman turned around and fired away at Norris but Norris got away safely. I got up and saw the henchman firing wildly at the bookshelves. The bullet wounds were still burning in his back and they soon started to join together forming a pattern. Apparently due to the henchman's huge size taking him down wouldn't be so easy. I then looked and the tattered corpse of Middleton and turned the opposite direction and ran away.

As I started to run down the long line of bookshelves I saw something roll in front of me. It was small and grey with a red button in the middle. It made a long weak beep. I suddenly felt a pull on my left shoulder which brought me between two bookshelves. I was then thrown into a corner and I felt someone all over me. Suddenly there was a loud thud, like an explosion. I recognized that sound it was the M-1 flash bang. I looked up and saw Rivers releasing me. He then picked me up and started running; I soon followed. I followed Rivers behind another bookshelf and we both took up defensive positions. We both started to hear the henchman's footsteps and Rivers peered from behind the bookshelf. He then fired a blast and ran to the other row of bookshelves. I followed him and fired a blast as I ran. In the corner of my eye I could see the right side of the henchman's face and chest charred. I soon joined Rivers on the other side behind a bookshelf. "We're throwing everything we've got on this guy but he just won't fucking go down!" I said.

"You don't have to tell me that," Rivers said. "That flash bang I threw at him should've made him extra crispy by now." I saw Rivers peer from behind our position. I then heard the sound of gunfire coming from the row of bookshelves from the right. It was soon followed by the uncomforting sound of the henchman's mini-gun. "Jose!" Rivers yelled. He started firing wildly, screaming at the same time. A blast fired from the mini-gun and the bullets flew into the bookshelf where Rivers and I were hiding. Suddenly Rivers was shredded to bits by the mini-gun's bullets. I watched in horror as Rivers fell limp on the floor with half of his right fore arm blown off. I started to run and in a split second I heard the bookshelf from where I was hiding crash to the ground creating a domino effect on the first two bookshelves of that row.

I returned between the two rows of bookshelves and saw the shredded, bloody corpse of Jose Chavez. Oh my God. I then turned and looked ahead and saw the wounded charred henchman turning around with his mini-gun. He was moving slower than ever. I fired a blast and ran for my life behind the last bookshelf in the row. The henchman was hit five times and was still moving. I aimed my H&K UMP at him again, suddenly, CLICK. My weapon was out of ammo. Shit! I ran down the long row of bookshelves that were close to the wall as the henchman fired a blast at the last bookshelf. I then stopped and pulled out one of my H&K USP pistols. I heard him come down the row of bookshelves again. Suddenly I was looking at him dead in the eye. He was standing between the bookshelf where I stopped. I pointed my gun at him and shot him five times. He fell down to the floor and the mini-gun slipped out of his left hand. Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about! Suddenly after about three seconds he slowly began to sit up and next thing you know he was on his feet again. He held up his mini-gun with his left hand once more and gave one menacing look. Fuck me.

I started to run and I began to pick up speed the moment I heard the spine tingling sound of the henchman's mini-gun. The mini-gun's bullets started ripping away every bookshelf I passed. Suddenly I heard the bookshelves cracking and then they began falling upon one another. I took a chance at trying to run between the first two bookshelves in order to escape. Boom! Boom! Boom! The broken bookshelves began to fall in my direction in a chain reaction. One of the bookshelves fell right on top of me and I dropped my gun in the process. I felt intense pain in my mid-torso and I thought I broke my spine. I looked ahead and saw my H&K USP pistol lying five inches away from me. My left arm was already under the wreckage so I tried to reach for it with my right hand. I suddenly heard the henchman's footsteps coming my way. I looked to my right and saw him sluggishly walking towards me. He was clearly weakened by all of the gunshot wounds he sustained. I thought it was my chance to finish him off once and for all so I started putting great effort into reaching for my gun. I could feel my fingers tips touching the gun when all of a sudden the henchman stood right in front of me and kicked the gun away. I looked up to him and saw a badly wounded man with burning wounds all over his body and half of his face charred. He then held up his mini-gun and pointed it and me. My eyes interlocked on the six rotary barrels and I then looked at the henchmen as he slowly pulled the trigger. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! I expected to be knocking on heaven's door at that very moment but to my astonishment the henchman's M 134 mini-gun was out of bullets. The giant looked down at his weapon and was clearly surprised, suddenly CLICK! The henchman turned around and I looked behind him and saw Velez standing on top of a fallen bookshelf pointing a SIG Sauer P250 pistol to his temple. She squeezed the trigger and there was a shot that echoed throughout the library. The giant henchman dropped limp to the ground, making a thud upon impact. His head then flopped in my eyesight and I saw a gapping gunshot wound his forehead. Slowly his skin began to turn into ash which created a bad heat and a few seconds later a large skeleton appeared disintegrating into a large pile of black ash.

Velez jumped off the bookshelf and helped me free myself from the wreckage I was trapped under. Fortunately I suffered no broken bones. "Muchas gracias," I said to Velez.

"De nada," she replied. I heard footsteps coming from my right and I saw Conner, Norris and Rivera. "Here," Conner said handing me my H&K USP pistol. "I think you dropped this." He then turned to Velez, patted her on the shoulder and said in Spanish "Good job, Paulina. Good job."

"We got K.I.A s, Bill," said Norris.

"I know," said Conner sadly. "We gotta move. We've made this far." I was handed back the H&K UMP submachine gun I dropped and was given more ammo clips. We all then proceeded to go to the door, stepping on shell casings that littered the floor in which I almost slipped on them, continuing our search for Benito Valdez, whoever the fuck he is.


	12. Chapter 12

**_Anna Van Helsing together with a handful of the bounty hunters/vampire hunters The Road Dogs were engaged in a heavy firefight with a huge vampire armed with an M 134 mini-gun in the library. They all managed to take down the fierce henchman, bit by bit, but with the expense of Pedro Diaz, Al Middleton, Jeff Rivers and Jose Chavez They proceed to continue their search for vampire elder Benito Valdez, but the real danger is yet to come. _**

**Chapter 12 **

Man, that was some real shit! Thank God I'm alive though. I together with Bill Conner, Ed Norris, Pedro Diaz, Paulina Velez, Al Middleton, Antonio Rivera, Jeff Rivers and Jose Chavez were engaged with a 7ft 2inch, 520 pound henchman armed with an M 134 mini-gun in the library where we were supposed to be leaving. We all threw everything we got at that motherfucker, but our bullets couldn't bring his big ass down. That prick was finally put out of his misery when Velez put a bullet in his big ass skull. Unfortunately we lost Diaz, Middleton, Chavez and Rivers in the process. After the whole fiasco we were finally able to move on in hot pursuit of Benito Valdez. We all left behind one fucked up library. The bookshelves have fallen upon each other, there were several bullet holes in the walls and the floors were littered with ripped books, pages, shell casings, human blood and the charred remains of armed vampires.

We all came to a door that was located at the corner of the library and went through it finding ourselves looking down a hall. Not this shit again. Fuck! We ran down the hall with Conner leading on, reaching a corner. As we turned into this corner we saw two vampires, one armed with an H&K MP5K and the other armed with a UZI running into our direction. They aimed their weapons at us ready to fire but we were able to take them down without them firing a single shot. We continued running when I heard a cackling in Conner's headset. "Yeah, got it," said Conner. "Miguel, Brent and Alfonso are right this way." We turned into a corner and saw three guys straight down the hall. It appeared that they were engaged in a firefight. We crept slowly behind the men who were armed with H&K MP5K and H&K UMP submachine guns and kneeled into position. One of the men, a Latino armed with an H&K MP5K submachine gun, turned his head around and saw us. He then alerted the other Latino who was shooting into the other corner in Spanish. The man who was shooting into the other corner turned around and said "Bill? Man, you got here at a perfect time?"

"What the fuck's going on, Miguel?" said Conner.

"Valdez's trying to make a getaway," said Miguel.

"What? Shit!" Conner got up and started firing away in the direction where Miguel was shooting. Incoming fire started to rain down on our position and another one of the men, a Caucasian with brown hair and blue eyes, grabbed unto Conner's clothes and pulled him back making Conner fall backwards. "Oh, by the way, these guys are Miguel Gutierrez, Brent Huxley and Alfonso Herrera," Rivera told me. "They're Pin 4."

"Fall back! Incoming!" yelled Miguel. They all started to rise above me and run while I was still on the floor. Rivera took a firm grip on my shoulder and pulled me away from the corner. There was suddenly a huge explosion behind us which threw us five feet down the hall. We were then covered with dust and debris and huge chunks of concrete started to fall all over the place. We started to get up only to face a cloud of grey smoke. It was so thick we would find it hard to breath. "We got a fucking M203 on our asses!" said Miguel hacking and coughing.

"C'mon, let's go," said Conner brushing away smoke. We all ran into the corner where the enemy rounds came from. Trailing white smoke could still be seen floating in the hall. We went into the hall where we saw four vampires running and turning into another corner. One of them, a young woman armed with an M203 grenade launcher fitted unto an M4 Carbine assault rifle, suddenly stopped and took out a 40 mm round and placed it into the grenade launcher. She then cocked it, aimed at us and fired away. We all ran as the round flew right behind us. The round missed us clearly and exploded at the left side of the wall making us fall unto the floor and sending dust, debris and concrete flying into the air. After the explosion we got up and began brushing aside smoke to engage this vampire chick. To our surprise the woman was already gone. We turned into the next corner and discovered a flight of steep stairs. In single column we ran down these and as we reached the bottom bullets flew into our direction. I was way behind so all I could see was Miguel and Conner trading fire with an unseen force. Conner and Miguel stopped firing and ordered us to move. I soon discovered that we were in a basement and at the corner there was a door wide open that led to the outside. We all moved through the door with Miguel leading on. As we stepped outside Miguel was suddenly hit by two bullets. The bullets came from the same woman armed with the M4 Carbine assault rifle combined with the M203 grenade launcher. As Miguel was being struck with bullet after bullet he raised his H&K UMP submachine in one hand, pointed it at the woman and squeezed the trigger. Seven bullets struck the woman and she turned into a burning pile of ash and dust. Miguel, in turn, dropped dead on the ground. I suddenly saw a man armed with a twelve gauge shotgun hiding behind the wall fire away at us and struck Conner in his left leg. Conner fell to the ground screaming in pain. We fired away at the man who then pulled away his head escaping our bullets. "You guys go after him. I got this one (Conner)," said Brent Huxley. Norris was our new lead, lucky me.

We all proceeded to move to the corner where that shotgun blast came from, but as we started to turn into the other side an incoming round suddenly hit the wall and a piece of debris struck Norris in the head. "Are you alright?" I said running to assist him. Norris removed his hand from his forehead and I saw a deep gash and it was bleeding out of control. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said. I looked up and saw a gapping hole in the wall. I then peered into the other side and saw a henchman fire an incoming round into our position. I pulled back my head and the henchman's round made a huge hole in the wall. I turned back at the crew and said "We'd better watch our asses. We got a guy locked and loaded with a M82." The M82A1 rifle is a type used for sniping and carries 50 caliber armor piercing rounds. When it's fired it sounds like a small canon. I pointed my weapon into the corner and fired a blast while at the same time not exposing myself. I jumped out of the way and landed on the ground allowing about three rounds to hit the wall. After about ten seconds we heard running footsteps and we all got up to discover the henchman armed with the M82 rifle was gone. We all ran to the other side of the house and found three men: one armed with a Glock 18C machine pistol and the other armed with a twelve gauged shotgun. The one trailing behind them was the one armed the M82A1 rifle. I fired away giving him two shots in the back which made him disintegrate into ash and dust. The two guys in front of him suddenly swung around and started firing at us. We took up position behind an intercepting corner of the house. As bullets chipped away at the wall I heard Rivera make a call in his headset. "Get your asses out here, man!" he said "Careful. Valdez is locked and loaded!" Wait a minute, we're engaging Benito Valdez? Which one? They both look young. The gunfire then ceased and I peered into the corner and saw the two guys running away. We started to follow them and we saw one of them stop and fire away at the other direction with his Glock 18C pistol. He then took five shots and fell down to ground into a pile of ash and dust. The other one, dressed in black and armed with a twelve gauged shotgun, fired one shot and ran at high speed and jumped in a single bound over the fence. I ran after him going through the opened gate running down the road with him way in front of me.

I'm beginning to run out of gas as I'm trying to catch up with this guy who was the clear winner. I then saw him turn right into an alley and as I reach into the alley I saw him beginning to jump at the top of apartment building. I jumped on top of a dumpster and held unto him making us both fall to the ground. At close up I'd say he was a very handsome, unshaven young man with yellow eyes. He was also taller than me. He kicked me off which sent me flying down the alley. I got up to engage him but I suddenly stopped. He was pointing his shotgun in my chest. Shit, I forgot he had that thing. I looked at the barrel of the shotgun then I looked into his eyes. He smirked as he cocked it and pulled the trigger. CLICK! He looked stunned. He cocked it again. CLICK! He cocked it again. CLICK! He was out of bullets. I in turn smiled and pointed my gun at him and pulled the trigger. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! I couldn't believe it. I too was out of bullets. The vampire lounged at me landing right on top of me. He then turned on his back and propelled me with his legs sending slamming into a wall. From there we engaged in unarmed combat. He started kicking me into my sides in which I blocked all of them. I swung my fist into his cheeks which had no effect. He grabbed unto my clothes, pulled back his fist and aimed for my face. I ducked as his fist slammed into the wall making a gapping hole. I grabbed unto his shirt with my left hand and started punching him in his stomach with my right fist. While I was punching him I began pushing him to the other wall. I nailed him to the wall and started punching him in his torso with both of my fist. All of my blows were in vain. While I was punching him he held my right arm under his armpit and punched me in my face three times and kicked me in my chest making me back away two inches from him. I held my chest in pain and started to spit blood. I charged towards him and kicked him his chest and started throwing a combination of kicks and punches. In some cases the blows were hitting him and having no effect; in other cases he was blocking my blows. He started to give me his combination of kicks and punches. I was able to block a few but I took a full brunt of the others. I backed away wobbling feeling intense pain. I suddenly dropped down. All of that pain was just too much for me to bear. I got up slowly getting myself back into fighting position. "Give up, bitch," the vampire said in Spanish. "You can't win." I charged him again, this time with a scream. I threw another combo of kicks and punches. I then grabbed him under my right armpit in attempt to break his neck. It was then I felt victorious. Suddenly I felt him starting to bite my tricep muscle. I screamed in pain as I felt him pulling on my flesh with his teeth. He released me and I felt him tear of piece of my flesh. I was still screaming as I held onto my arm bleeding profoundly from a sticky, slimy hole I felt in my tricep muscle. I turned around and saw a piece of flesh and cloth between the vampire's teeth. He spat it out and licked the blood around his lips. He then smiled showing two fangs. He bit a chunk from my tricep! I know you didn't just bite off my arm, motherfucker! I charged him in rage throwing another set of kicks and punches. He in turn kicked me in the stomach throwing me to the ground. He then jumped into the air and came down with his right knee bent aimed for my face. I rolled away before he landed his blow and his knee made a hole in the concrete ground. I sprung back to my feet and started throwing another combo at him. He in turn gave me his combo and kicked me in the chest which sent me sliding across the alley. I then saw him fly into the air coming down at me. At that moment I just remembered something. As he landed over me I had my H&K USP pistol pointed under his chin. We looked at each other eyeball to eyeball and he gave a look of shock. I then pulled the trigger and fired a shot under his chin. He suddenly disintegrated into ash and dust which fell all over me. I got up screaming in pain as I started to dust it off quickly. Sometimes I'd forget that I had that fucking gun. I then felt a pain in my right tricep. It reminded me that I just got bitten there. I then heard the sound of screeching tires at the left of me. The door of one of vans slid open to reveal Ed Norris who came out with a patch on his forehead and escorted me into the van and we all drove off. "You alright?" said Norris.

"The sound of a bitch bit me!" I said. "Other than that I'm okay."

"Hey, you just took down Benito Valdez." said Rivera who was among the other occupants of the van.

"I did?" I said totally stunned.

"Yeah. He was the target of our raid." Norris said. The other occupants started to give me a round of applause. I couldn't believe it. That prick was this Benito Valdez guy they were talking about? The same guy I was fighting with? I expected somebody older, some old shriveled up guy, you know?

As we continued driving I heard the painful moans of a man behind me. "C'mon, stay with us. Stay with us. You're gonna make it," I heard an all too familiar voice said. I turned around to see Bill Conner holding the hand of a man I met before: Dale Harris, the same Dale Harris who I met while trying to find Bill Conner. As I moved closer to him I discovered that he was shot and that his life was hanging on a thread. "Dale, are you alright?" I said.

"Annie, is that you?"

"Yeah."

"I heard you kicked Valdez's ass. You're one hell of a vampire hunter. Good job. Bill?"

"I'm here, Dale," said Conner.

"Do me a favor, will ya? My wife and little girl still think I'm a bounty hunter. They don't know what I really do. Don't tell them anything about this."

"Whatever you say partner," said Conner tearfully.

"I want you to tell them that I love them very much and that I did a good job. Promise me that."

"I promise…I promise."

With those words Dale Harris's eyes rolled back in his head he loosened his firm grip on Conner's hand. Dale Harris was gone. Conner then closed Dale's eyes and started to cry. There was total silence in the vain which was a clear sign of loss. I started to feel it too because I just met Harris a few hours ago only to have him die on me. He seemed like a nice guy. I didn't get a chance to know him very well so the burden was heavy for me. I soon discovered that Harris was the one killed by the same vampire that was armed with Glock 18C machine pistol. That vampire turned out to be Benito Valdez's brother, Angel. We all arrived back where we were able to recover both physically and mentally. Before we arrived all the bodies of our fallen comrades were picked up. The list includes those who I was familiar with:

Al Middleton, 30  
Pedro Diaz, 27  
Darryl Montgomery, 21  
Jose Chavez, 32  
Jeff Rivers, 24  
Dale Harris, 40  
Miguel Gutierrez, 34

There were two who I wasn't familiar with. They were:

Ronnie Mondale, 18  
Ben Kerry, 28

All the dead were given their last rites by Ricardo Gonzales who was deacon at a church and who took part in the raid that night. The dead were buried in private ceremonies. Bill Conner was shot in the leg by a gunshot blast which nearly shattered his thigh bone and Ed Norris was grazed by shrapnel. I too got hit by shrapnel but I also got a huge bite from our target Benito Valdez. Don't worry; I didn't turn into a vampire. That only happens when the vampire sucks you dry of your blood. I did get some stitches for it though. While The Road Dogs and I were recovering from our injuries and our losses I came to Bill Conner and asked him "So, are you ready to talk about the Bride of Dracula?" Conner sighed. "Well, you came this far. It would be a sin for me not to talk about it. You almost got _your_ head blown off as a result. Okay, I'll talk to you about the Bride of Dracula."

_**KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING, Y'ALL! **_


	13. Chapter 13

**_Anna Van Helsing is now resting comfortably in the home of bounty/vampire hunters known as The Road Dogs led by Bill Conner. Nursing their wounds, Anna and Bill is finally together to converse on an issue that plagued Anna for so long; The Bride of Dracula. _**

**Chapter 13 **

My arm is killing me as I lay it on the arm rest of the chair that I'm sitting in the left of Bill Conner. Conner has his left leg resting on a stool. His thigh is wrapped in bandage and blood could still be seen printed on it; all these wounds that both of us carried was a result of the raid on the estate of Benito Valdez. We along with sixteen others went through hell; a gunfight in the living room, being pinned down in a library, coming across a 7ft 2inch dick armed with an M 134 mini-gun, an M203 grenade launcher up our asses and me fighting with Benito Valdez himself. I can't believe I was actually fighting a 424 year old leader of a big time vampire organisation. I was expecting some old geezer, but with that guy's youthful appearance and good looks he could almost pass for a Latin American pop star. I was expecting some casualties but not of the magnitude I experienced. Nine dead, nine of the bravest men I fought with, guys with families, wives, kids who they will never see grow up. I didn't know them personally but I couldn't imagine how it must have felt to suffer loss of life like that. Those guys were probably closer than friends or brothers. They died for a good cause, however; to make sure that the vampires don't outlive the human race.

I gave Conner five days to stomach the loss of his comrades and to physically recover to some extent before he could give me the 411 about the Bride of Dracula. This is it, the moment of truth. "God, there's so many things I wanna say about this girl. I don't know where to start," said Conner. "I mean, I don't wanna bore you to death."

"It's alright," I said. "Just make sure you don't give me a rundown about The Young and the Restless."

"Okay," said Conner laughing. "Well, this girl was first spotted back in 1983 along the border. I was still rising through the ranks."

"Really? I thought it was you who started the game," I said.

"No, that was my dad," said Conner. "He died of a heart attack two years prior to that time. Anyway, there were police reports of some strange killings involving some victims who had their bodies dried up. Autopsies revealed that prior to their murders their bodies had limited amounts of blood flowing through their veins and when they were killed they absolutely lost that blood. With that kind of report that only meant one thing: the victims were vampires." That's true, y'know. Vampires only carry a limited blood supply through their veins which explains their thirst for blood. "We didn't know what to make of it back then," Conner continued. "We just saw it as weird shit. One time, we went to investigate this house that some vampires invaded. There were six dead. At least four of the victims were vampires. Their bodies were dried up just like in the police reports. I saw tooth marks in one of the vampires' neck; in fact, all of the vampires had tooth marks in their necks. Right there we started to take this thing seriously. We couldn't believe that we were dealing with a vampire that was living off the blood of other vampires.

I was helping in surveillance on a vampire's estate one night while I was trying to get the thing about a vampire killing vampires of my mind. It was then when I started to pick up somebody talking about how their guys got killed by this vampire. They talked specifically about this incident involving some of their guys at a hideout. They said something about a girl going down there and killing all but one of the occupants. This girl just came up to this last guy and sucked him dry. I thought it was some deep shit. Even though I was trying not to think about it this problem always seem to pop up. There was this one time when me and some other comrades cornered this prick that belonged to the group Leaders of the Pit. I'll never forget what he said. "Go ahead and kill me. I don't give a fuck. I'd rather be killed by you assholes rather than being killed by the Bride of Dracula. Just don't let her get me, man!" Man, I laughed my ass off. Then again I wondered who the hell the Bride ofDracula was. It seemed vague to me back then but I still kept it in mind. This guy wasn't the only one talking about it. There were many cases when we started taking out vampires and keeping surveillance on those who were talking about the Bride of Dracula. I thought the whole thing was just crazy, but it was still a vague subject to me.

One day it hit me. My brother Jason was involved in this raid on this casino owned by a member of the group Crimson Angels." Conner then paused and swallowed. "They said they got separated and Jason went missing for two hours and then they found him in this room…." He paused, swallowed and continued "with his body…cut up in pieces…" Conner stopped for a few seconds and sighed. He then continued "They said that they managed to get information from one vampire who was there. He said that the Bride of Dracula was the one who killed Jason. They said that the vampire was hiding in a closet in a room when it happened and that nobody else was around. The vampire wasn't armed when it happened and that Jason didn't suffer from any gunshot wounds or had tooth marks in his neck. They also said the vampire told them that the vampire that killed Jason did not belong to their group and that she killed Jason with a sword. From that moment on it became personal for me. I really wanted to get the Bride of Dracula back for killing Jason.

I started to dig up any information I could about this girl. Then I thought why were the vampires calling her the Bride of Dracula anyway? Dracula doesn't exist, for Christ's sake. It's like saying Jennifer Lopez got married to the Easter Bunny." Conner doesn't believe Dracula existed? This guy's gotta have shit for brains. "With the help of some good pals, I started to randomly eavesdrop on some blood suckers, trying to squeeze out some info about their knowledge of the Bride of Dracula," Conner continued. "It so happened that I stumbled upon this one guy, Dean Khan, who was this hit man that worked for Benedict Armstrong, the leader of The Everlasting Mists. Dean was very good at taking out Armstrong's human rivals. They both had information that the Bride of Dracula was working for this rival vampire group and that she and the group's members would always be meeting at this bar in San Diego. They were planning on taking out her and the group at that same location in two days. I knew I had to reach there before they could so I went there and kept a stakeout the group's meeting was over. After this rival group finished their meeting I moved in on this one guy who belonged to the group and started to beat out some info about what he knew about the Bride of Dracula. He told me that she stopped working for them five months prior. I asked him if the Bride of Dracula had a name, he told me that she wouldn't say her name and that he didn't know that she was called that in the first place. I asked him about the incident at the casino that belonged one of Crimson Angels' boys, he said that he didn't know anything about it. I knew that if I wanted to get the Bride of Dracula I had to get the Crimson Angels in my sights. I was able to round up some guys and do some surveillance in which I got some useful info. I discovered that the Bride of Dracula carries around a sword most vampires knew as The Final Dawn. I also discovered that she had an unexplainable habit of living off the blood of other vampires and that she was responsible for killing fifty in the same manner. I eventually found out that the Bride of Dracula was a new contract killer for the leader of The New Order, Raul de la Cruz. I linked up with some trusted associates and we all initiated a raid on Raul's hideout.

It was on December 13th, 1985 when we raided Cruz's hideout. After taking out Cruz's men and Cruz himself, some of us split up in which me and six others cornered this girl, a vampire, 5ft 5inches tall, probably weighed 115 pounds, short black hair and looked like she was probably seventeen years old. From our point of view she wasn't armed so we thought "What the hell?" and emptied our guns on her. This was when the real shit started. She probably took twelve shots, but she didn't fall backwards. She just stood there and all of her wounds starting healing up! I saw her reach in her back and pulled out something that looked like a sword. Just like that, she sliced and diced five of my guys. The last one, Hal Young, keep shooting at her until he ran out of ammo. The girl rushed up to him and in a split second Hal pulled out his stake and stabbed her in the heart. The girl stabbed him in the chest with her sword and then she cut off his head. At that moment I knew it was time for me to haul ass. She jumped on top of me and I pulled out my stake and stabbed her in the chest. I backed away and saw two stakes in her chest then I realized that the stakes weren't doing shit. She rushed up to me and I pulled out my Beretta and fired in her chest at close range. She just looked up to me and kicked me in the chest. That kick sent me flying into a wall. I looked up and saw her walking up to me, pulling out the stakes from her chest and all of her wounds healing up. It was like…, I don't know, like silver nitrate had no effect on her. She then cornered me, raised her sword and brought it down to my neck. Lucky for me, the sword stopped about an inch from my neck. "What the fuck are you!" I said.

"The last person you'd ever wanna fuck with," she said. "I'm not gonna kill you. Instead I'm giving you an assignment. Tell your partners and any other vampire hunter you know that if they know what's good for them they'd stay out of my way and stop hunting me down. Tell them Mina Harker sends her regards." She put her sword back into place behind her back and then she ran away. Years passed when the Bride of Dracula was last seen or heard from again. Her trail went cold; it was as if she just vanished into thin air. The fact that there was this one vampire that I couldn't kill and who was immune to all of my weapons gave me nightmares. To think that I sought out to get payback for Jason's killer and when I finally cornered him I couldn't even kill him,… it just eats me alive. I've never seen a vampire who moved so fast, faster that any other vampire around, and that sword. It was a Japanese katana sword. You've seen those Japanese samurai movies, right?"

"Right," I said.

"Well that's exactly how it looked like," said Conner. "And I could tell you, that blade was strong! I could remember seeing her passing it through the wall to kill one of my men. At the end there was a huge gash in the wall and the sword was still in perfect condition."

"So the Bride of Dracula is Mina Harker!"

"You can say that."

"So that explains why her name kept popping up everywhere in L.A." There was suddenly a look of shock on Conner's face. "She's in L.A.?" Conner asked.

"Well, I don't really know. Just recently me and some other vampire hunters were coming across some vampires that were talking about somebody named Mina Harker," I said. "I did some surveillance on a vampire's house and I found out that somebody called the Bride of Dracula was responsible for the killing of a vampire elder. The same way she killed those vampires back then was the same way she killed two vampire elders. I also found out that she isn't really on the side of her own kind. Many vampires are calling her a traitor and some others have already mounted operations against her. There are some who even worship her for some strange reason, thinking she'll lead them to victory over the humans."

"Oh my God," said Conner leaning back in his chair and passing his hands through his hair. "Why the hell are you doing this, huh? Why do you wanna track this bitch down? What's in it for you?"

"I don't know; maybe someway, some how I could find a flaw in her and use it against her," I said.

"Annie, I dumped all the shit could find on this girl. Silver nitrate bullets and stakes don't do shit against her. Words of advice: once you don't fuck with her, she won't fuck with you."

"C'mon, Bill. Don't tell me you're going squishy on me. Okay, maybe she's hard on the outside, but somewhere in that cold temple, there's gotta be a soft spot. How many more vampire hunters have to die before they realize her true weakness? I could probably make it easier for them."

Conner sighed. "Alright, Annie, do want you gotta do. Just watch your ass"

Later in the day, after some rest, more chats and some lectures Conner gave me in vampire hunting I was finally able to leave. "Hey, Annie, wait up!" said Conner as I was walking through the front door. "Ed's got something to give you." Ed Norris walked up to me with a patch over his eye, looked at me straight in the eye with those beautiful baby blues, took my right hand and placed five M-1 flash bang grenades in my palm. "It's something for you to carry along the way," Harris said. "Just remember, you press this is button to activate it and take cover before it detonates because it gives off light that could blind you permanently."

"Oh, thanks," I said as I walked through the door "Take care of yourselves."

Alright, I finally got a name: Mina Harker. The great Bride of Dracula. I really couldn't link the two at first. I thought they were two different persons and that Mina Harker was human. I then came to the conclusion that Mina Harker was the girl who Steve Hopkins of The Golden Rifles Association came across thirteen years prior; the same girl who couldn't be killed by silver nitrate. Bill Conner made it easy for me to connect the dots. She's 5ft 5 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds, my same height and weight; and The Final Dawn is some fancy katana sword she carries around. That's some good info, but I need more. Where did Mina Harker come from? Why is she immune to silver nitrate? Is she working for another vampire leader? Where's her hideout? How exactly did she get a hold on such a sword? In order to find the answer to these questions I had to ride back over the border back to L.A. and find the answer from an unlikely source, the very thing I hunted nights on end and who would be able to explain it better: the vampires themselves.

_**YOU MIGHT NOTICE A SLIGHT CHANGE IN MINA HARKER'S HEIGHT. THAT'S BECAUSE A READER ON THIS SIGHT SAID THAT THE INITIAL HEIGHT THAT I PUT HER; 4ft 9 inches WAS TOO SHORT. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THAT LITTLE MISTAKE.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**_With the help of Bill Conner, the leader of the bounty/vampire hunters The Road Dogs, Anna Van Helsing has finally uncovered the true identity of the Bride of Dracula: Mina Harker. Anna learns that Mina Harker is the one who possess a Japanese katana sword called The Final Dawn and that she has an unusual habit of drinking the blood of other vampires. Anna also discovers that Mina was immune to silver nitrate, that she worked as a contract killer in the past and often killed any vampire hunter who confronted her. Yet, with all this info, Anna is still not satisfied. _**

**Chapter 14 **

Yes, I've finally solved the mystery! The famous Bride of Dracula is Mina Harker. The first time I heard that name was in the deaths of six members of Damien's Hand, the second time was in the death of the leader of The Kin of Ekimmu, Donavon Bradley. Back then I didn't know what to make of it; I just thought it was another vampire hunter who was better than I was. It was when I decided to find out whatever I could about this girl, I realized I was now after two people. Doing surveillance I discovered that the one responsible for the death of vampire elder, Gabriel Heinrich, was commonly referred to as the Bride of Dracula. I also found out that the Bride of Dracula would often drink the blood of vampires in order to kill them. This was the same thing that happened to Heinrich which left his body dried up like a raisin. Looking further I found out from the vampire hunters The Golden Rifles Association, that there were several cases where they found the bodies of vampires that had their blood drained out of their bodies which left them shriveled up. I also learned from the group's senior member, John Hopkins, that he and couple others once came across this girl wielding a sword and who was immune to the attack of silver nitrate. I rode across the U.S./Mexican border in search for The Road Dogs, but instead came across these two vampire hunters who belonged to Rojas la Noche, who indicated to me that the Bride of Dracula was in Mexico for some time and she carries around this sword called The Final Dawn. I eventually found The Road Dogs mere moments before they were initiating a raid on the estate of vampire elder, Benito Valdez. I offered assistance in order to find out more about the Bride of Dracula. The raid resulted in the deaths of Benito Valdez and nine members of The Road Dogs. Sitting down with the group's leader, Bill Conner, I found out that the Bride of Dracula first surfaced in 1983 when the corpses of her vampire victims were being picked up and that she was hired as a contract killer for two vampire groups. Conner told me that the Bride of Dracula finally revealed her name when she cornered him after killing six of his men during a raid on her employer's house. Her name is Mina Harker. I also learned that Mina Harker was the one who possessed The Final Dawn, which was a Japanese katana sword. All of this some good stuff, I wanted more. Before I could stop to think about it I'm on the road to the U.S. border.

It takes me 3hrs to reach the border and by sundown I'm back in Los Angeles. I ride through many streets on my bike which takes me to an apartment building. I park my bike in the alley and then I enter the building. I climbed up a flight of stairs which leads to the third floor. I walk down the hall where I find a door with the numbers 308. I pulled out a key from the pocket of my trench coat, slipped it in the key hole and unlocked the door. I opened the door and discovered a familiar place: my apartment. I'm home. I take off my trench coat and boots and dived in bed, totally drained. I'll never leave this bed again. Ah, shit! My arm! I forgot about that fucking bite. Before I could close my eyes and let sleep take over, my mind is suddenly plagued with thoughts. I begin to think about the info I collected so far on the Bride of Dracula. The Bride of Dracula's name is Mina Harker, she carries around a Japanese katana sword called The Final Dawn, she often kills her own kind by drinking their blood, she has the deaths of 2,000 vampires to her credit and she is immune to silver nitrate. In my view this is not enough. I wanted to know more. How is a vampire able to stay undetected for so many years? Where did Mina Harker come from? How exactly did she turn against her own kind? Who are the vampires who worship her? How is she able to feed on other vampires? Is she working for anybody else? I thought I had a personal obligation to find the answer to these questions. Come think of it, I started this whole thing without a clear purpose or objective. I was doing this out of sheer curiosity. I hoped to discover that purpose as I went along with the game. Before I could ponder any further, my eyes close shut and I fall fast asleep.

The following day I pulled out my flashcard which was downloaded with info on the vampire hunters and vampires of Los Angeles. The file opened with the two columns of vampire hunters and vampires. I stared at the vampire hunters' column for a few seconds and then decided "Nah, they've helped enough." I began to look at the long column of probably thousands of vampire groups. Just looking at the names got me close to pissing my pants. I then started to think. Why should I turn to them, the very pricks that are hell bent on wiping out the human race? They are the reason why I am who I am. They are the ones who took my life away. They are the reason why I can't live a normal life. Why the fuck should I turn to these fuckers? It'll be like selling my soul to the fucking devil. There's no telling what they'll do to me, what kind of mind fuck they'll try. Suddenly I had another thought. How many vampire hunters have to die before they realize that they're dealing with probably a perfect species? What about Danny? What if he meets Mina Harker eyeball to eyeball? He'd start throwing everything he got at her but it wouldn't worth shit and then he'll fall victim to The Final Dawn. Oh, God, please don't let that happen! If that happens how would I feel? I'd go fucking crazy. I can't imagine what Conner's probably going through right now with fact that he lost his brother to this woman. Since Mina Harker is a thorn in the vampires' asses only they would know about her and since she teamed up with them on some occasions they could dish out some good info. Maybe this Harker girl's not all that perfect. Maybe I could find some flaw in her and warn other vampire hunters in advance. Fine, I'll go to them.

I began to search through layers and layers of files on these piles of dog shit. There were some vampires that I was familiar with and who I've hunted before, but they've always managed to get away. However, there were many other vampires and vampire groups who I've never heard of or hunted in my life. Some were low level groups and others were more powerful organizations. There were so many of them I couldn't decide where to start. I could just say heads and tails and get it over with. It was then I stumbled upon this character. Hmmm, this looks interesting. His name was Grendel Mohr. He was a 415 Republican member of the California State Senate. He served three terms already. At nights he overlooks the work of his own group called Dark Coven. The fact that he was holding such an office just gave me the creeps. In that post he's untouchable. I decided that he was my first target. I began to look up Mohr's website and I found a chat room. This was where Mohr had online chats with his supporters. His pen name was Deliverer. My pen name would be Sherlock. I started to communicate.

DELIVERER: What would you like to know about, dear Sherlock?

SHERLOCK: Don't freak out, but I'm a vampire hunter and I know you're a vampire.

DELIVERER: You're crazy.

SHERLOCK: I'm crazy? There's a police report about the murders of four teenage girls back in 1992. All the victims had tooth marks in their necks and there were witnesses saying that those girls were seen visiting your home on several occasions. You were under federal investigation but you got off the hook due to insufficient evidence of your involvement in those girls' deaths. What about this woman, Stacy Phillips, age 21, law student at Stanford University? She disappeared in 1995 and her body was found floating near a beach in Malibu three days later. There were witnesses saying that you two were seeing each other for quite a while and you were questioned about possible involvement in her death. You were never charged for a crime again due to insufficient evidence. Both cases remain open to this day. You've got many friends that say that they've seen you go out many nights and that many of those times you weren't in you're office. I've got info that you've got an underground organisation that was responsible for 35 deaths over the past decade. What say you to all this? From the way I see it there's more than enough evidence that proves that you've got a thing for blood.

DELIVERER: What can I say? You got me. You're really a vampire hunter, huh?

SHERLOCK: Yup.

DELIVERER: Which group?

SHERLOCK: That's not important right now. There's been some really strange killing lately that I'm not sure you know about. I got some info on this girl named Mina Harker and I'm sure guys like you know about her. I was wondering if you would happen to have some info on this chick.

DELIVERER: Well I don't like to give out info like that. What's in it for me?

SHERLOCK: Well don't you think she's been sticking her nose your business too much?

Don't you think she's killing too many of your people? I was thinking maybe we could work something out.

DELIVERER: Can I trust you?

SHERLOCK: You bet your ass.

DELIVERER: Alright. If you wanna talk about this its best we meet somewhere private. I know this café at the side of West Avenue. We can talk there first thing tomorrow morning. Deal?

SHERLOCK: Deal. What time should we meet?

DELIVERER: Around eight.

SHERLOCK: I got it. Thanks. See you tomorrow!

I left the chat room and closed my laptop. Oh, God, what the fuck am I doing? If anybody found out that I was making a deal with a vampire they would say that I was a traitor. A vampire hunter objective is to just kill a vampire, not start up some conversation. I was scared shitless over the fact that I was going to meet face to face with a thing that kills without hesitation, but I took comfort in the fact that he would be meeting in a public place so the chances of him killing me were a million to nothing. I also took pride that when it came to killing a vampire I was thinking outside of the box. I needed to find one flaw, just one flaw in Mina Harker and I would bring her ass down. God be with me.

Next day; I'm at Wendy's Café waiting for State Senator Grendel Mohr. I didn't know how he looked like and I didn't know what in store for me. I had a chance to speak with him before I left that morning. He told me to wait at the last table that was found in the back of the café. I looked around the café nervously waiting for this guy to show up, tapping my finger on the table impatiently. There are people coming in through the door ringing the bell above it, people buying coffee and drinking it alone or with company. I look at my watch which reads 8:15 a.m. This guy was supposed to show up fifteen minutes earlier. I started to look at the tables in front of me. There's one guy dressed in a suit and tie sipping his coffee and reading USA Today. There are some women sitting around another table talking away and laughing with their coffee on the table not caring if it's gonna get cold. I then see a man and a woman talking to each other and holding hands with their coffee at the side of them. Suddenly I hear the dig of the bell and I look up to see a man with brown hair and patches of grey in it, dressed in a black trench coat, dark brown suit and crimson tie. He walked down the aisle with his hands in his pockets, stopped next to the table where I was sitting and sat down. I just stared at him not knowing what to say, because he had this hard look as if he was ready to take me. He had these bushy eyebrows which hung over two brown eyes. However, he had this handsome face with a few wrinkles here and there. I swallowed and finally said "Senator Grendel Mohr?"

"Yes," he said.

"We've spoke to each other on line last night and this morning and you told me to meet you here."

"You were the one chatting with me on line?"

"Yup,"

"And you say you're a vampire hunter."

"Shh. That's right. Keep it down a little, will ya?

"Alright, I'm sorry. What's your name?" I hesitated for a few seconds. "Rebecca Thorpe," I said. Rebecca Thorpe was my alias for that day.

"Rebecca Thorpe?" He said. "You mean you're a girl?"

"Mm hmm."

"When I was walking up to you I thought you were a boy. You look like you're twelve or something." Senator Mohr wasn't the first one saying I looked like a boy. I had many people, especially vampire hunters saying I was acting like a boy. Yes, you can say I'm a tomboy. Maybe it's because I hung around guys a lot. Vampire hunting is mostly a man's job.

We talked for a few minutes about his job as a member of California's State Senate. He also stated that he had close associates in the U.S. Congress and that they assisted him in both his campaign and in the activities in his night organisation. "So what would you like to talk about, Rebecca?" said Mohr.

"Well, have you heard of the name Mina Harker?" I said.

"Yes, I've heard all about her."

"Did you know that she's also known as the Bride of Dracula?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Have you ever had an encounter with her?"

"Yes, and that was way back in 1998. It all started when five of my men wound up dead at an assignment. I overlooked the situation thinking it was the shit work of you hunters. But there was another time when my spokesperson was found dead at his home with tooth marks in his neck and his body was shriveled up. I thought it was scary. I didn't know of any member of my race who was capable of doing that, drinking vampire blood. One day while I was meeting with some close friends at my home when all of a sudden this girl broke into my house and started killing everybody in sight. I thought it was one of you guys, but then some of my bodyguards shot up this girl. She didn't fall back and I thought she was wearing a bullet proof vest. But then she turned around and I saw she had sustained seven gunshot wounds and she was bleeding. She just stood there and her wounds started to disappear, like they were healing up. She took out my bodyguards and then tried to kill me, but before she could, my house was crawling with cops.

Months would pass when I started to think about this girl who invaded my property. I thought how could 45 caliber bullets have no effect on a vampire hunter, who's perfectly human and weak? Then I thought of the weapon she used, a Japanese katana sword. I thought that was new arsenal that you guys bought. I then came to the conclusion that this girl was one of us. Only we could move that fast and only we who are strong against ordinary bullets. The thing about it is that she moved at a speed that my bodyguards couldn't match and this girl had skill with this blade of hers. Why would a vampire turn on her own kind? One night there was a second attempt on my life. I was driving in my limo with three of my colleagues when we were attacked by this girl wielding a Japanese katana sword. She ripped apart my vehicle killed two of them and killed the last one in a very peculiar way. She sunk her teeth into his neck and started sucking his blood. As she was doing so his body started to dry up and he died in her arms. Seeing her doing that haunts me to this day. But then I realized this girl looked familiar. She was the same girl who tried to kill me the last time. I barely escaped with my life after she cut off my ear." Mohr turned to his left to show me a gapping hole at the right side of his head to indicate that he lost his right ear. "It was then when I decided to mount an operation to find out the whereabouts of this girl" he continued. "After interrogating members of certain groups me and my men closed in on this group called Neo Elysium where we discovered the girl's name and the fact that she worked for the group's leader Nathaniel Abrams. I was on Abrams' hit list. Mina Harker was a killer for hire and the groups we investigated called her the Bride of Dracula. Her weapon was called The Final Dawn."

"Why exactly guys like you call her the Bride of Dracula?" I said.

"Dracula was said to be the first of our kind and any hunter who tried to kill him failed," he said. "Mina Harker's veins supposedly have the Dracula's blood running through them. But, hey, to me that's just hearsay. Anyway, I sent about fifteen of my men to take down Mina's ass when we discovered that she was meeting with some of the members of Neo Elysium at this warehouse. The mission failed. The thing about it is, my men were armed with flamethrowers and the reason why the mission failed was because fire had no effect on Mina Harker. All but one of the members of the team was wiped out by Harker. The one who survived was my son and he lost all his limbs, now all that's left of him is his head and torso. From that moment on I've lost all trace of Mina Harker. That bitch!"

"Do you know the whereabouts of Nathaniel Abrams?"

"Well, all I could tell you is that they would often meet at this bar in downtown. You can go at your own risk."

"Believe me, I'm risking everything."

"How exactly are you going to take out Mina Harker?"

"I might need some careful planning on that one. Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome. By the way, if you need anyone to make your beautiful state better, you know who to vote for."

"I'm not old enough to vote. When that time comes I think I'll become an independent."

With those words I shook Mohr's cold hand and walked out the café. I was a bit shaky as I walked down the sidewalk. I was nervous the whole time as I sat face to face with the undead. Grendel Mohr's voice is so sweet, seductive and very commanding. I could see why he's been in the State Senate for three terms. He even told me he planned on running for Governor of the state. I hope somebody could take his ass down before that happens. I've been hearing him for thirty minutes. Through those thirty minutes he didn't give me an answer as to why Mina Harker drinks vampire blood. I was, however, fascinated by the fact that there was a kind of super vampire with no possible kryptonite. Just imagine, fire, which is the fastest way to kill a vampire had no effect on Mina Harker. I had to move on for some more info. Next stop: Nathaniel Abrams of Neo Elysium. This guy must've had sex with this girl.


	15. Chapter 15

_**In an interview with Grendel Mohr, a member of the California State Senate and leader of the vampire organisation Dark Coven, Anna Van Helsing discovered that Mohr was marked for death by Mina Harker, the Bride of Dracula. Anna also discovered that Harker was a hired killer for Nathaniel Abrams, the leader of the vampire organisation Neo Elysium. Anna also had a revelation that Mina Harker is immune to fire. Anna moves on in hopes of finding more about the Bride of Dracula from the Bride's employer: Abrams.**_

**Chapter 15**

That's one hell of a record. Grendel Mohr, member of the California State Senate and 415 year old leader of the vampire group Dark Coven, once had the Bride of Dracula carry out a death sentence for him. Mohr was targeted by another vampire group called Neo Elysium who was issuing orders for their new hired gun: Mina Harker. Mohr even had a scar to prove it: a scorched scar with a gapping hole in the middle indicating that Harker cut off his ear in the second of two attempts on his life in which Harker was involved in both. Mohr revealed to me that he and his group initiated an operation to take out Harker, but the mission failed. Mohr's men were armed with flamethrowers but for some reason or the other, the flames projected by their flamethrowers had no effect on her. I'll be goddamned! A vampire that's strong against fire. There's something you don't hear everyday. The thought of a vampire that was immune to silver nitrate and fire was fascinating as it was scary. I wanted to find out more about this Mina Harker girl. My next target was the leader of Neo Elysium, Nathaniel Abrams.

Looking up on my flashcard downloaded with info on the vampire hunters and vampires of L.A. in my laptop, I happened to stumble upon info about Nathaniel Abrams and his group. Abrams was 265 years old and he ran this merely small organisation that was around for no more than five years with no more than 34 members. As small as Abrams' group was, that didn't stop it from being notoriously famous for the deaths of 135 innocent civilians over the past two decades. Neo Elysium was basically a low level organisation that operated in an around clubs, apartments and alleys. But like other vampire groups, their secrecy could not protect them from being detected by vampire hunters. I thought Nathaniel Abrams was the one who could give me vital information on Mina Harker: what's her favorite color, what kind of music she likes, what's her favorite movie. I'm just exaggerating.

I descended upon this small nightclub that was located around West 93rd Street, south of Los Angeles one night. This was the place where Nathaniel Abrams frequented with some of the members of his organization. I parked my bike on the side of the building and walked up to the door. At the door I meet the doorman. The huge doorman, dressed in black and wearing shades put his right hand in front of me, making a road block. "Got any I.D.?" he said.

"Uh, no," I said. "I'm here to see Nathaniel Abrams."

"What for?"

"I got some things I'd like to discuss. It's about the Bride of Dracula."

"The Bride of Dracula, huh? What is it to you?"

"The Bride of Dracula was around for some time. I was thinking of meeting Nathaniel Abrams so I could contact the Bride of Dracula somehow for a job if she's available." (I'm lying my ass off right here.)

"Alright, right this way."

He led me through the door and through a crowd of some of the worst dancers I've ever seen. I found myself at another door which the doorman knocked three times. The door opened and revealed another man dressed in a black suit covering a black T-shirt. The doorman explained my situation and the other guy allowed me to come in. Once inside I found a guy with brown hair sitting on a couch with two women at his side: one blonde the other brunette. I was presented by the man who brought me into the room. The man on the couch sent out the woman that were sitting beside him and his two guards and offered me a seat. "Are you Nathaniel Abrams?" I said.

"Before I can answer that question I gotta ask you a few," he said. "Who the hell are you and how did you find me?"

"Well, my name is Cindy Stevenson (another alias). I heard that many people respect you on this side of town."

"Well, not everybody." I saw the man open a Champaign bottle and pour something dark red and thick into a glass. He began to drink it and I saw some of it trickling at the left side of his mouth. He passed his hand on his chin to wipe it off, but there were still a trail of it left. It was blood. I know human blood when I see it. "They call me a pussy," he continued. "They say I don't run my business that good."

"You're a vampire," I said.

"How long you figured."

"I've got sources. Now tell me, are you Nathaniel Abrams?"

"The one and only, and I'm ready to recruit new talent." He smiled licking his bloodstained fangs. "Look, I don't wanna burst your bubble, but I've been killing people like you for two years now," I said.

"Is that so?" Abrams said. "I thought that was some weird shit about you the moment you invaded my property."

"Actually, I came here to find out what do you know about the Bride of Dracula."

"Who, Mina Harker? Well, can I say about that fucking traitor?"

"I know she worked for you in the past. Don't act like it never happened. You hired her to take out State Senator Grendel Mohr."

"Well, I don't like to brag. She was one of my best guys."

"Okay. But did you know that you're not the only one she worked for?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She worked for seven groups already. Who gives a fuck?"

"I do. Care to spill the beans?"

"It all happened eight years ago. We were planning on taking out Albrecht Killian who ran this group called Scarlet Temple. It so happened that before we could kill him he was killed already. I mean, nobody was unto him but us. One day I heard about this incident involving the deaths of seven guys belonging to Society of the Black Shadow. The thing about it is the one who killed them was the same one who killed Albrecht Killian. They called her the Bride of Dracula. I had a close associate who arranged a meeting for me and the Bride of Dracula. I finally met the girl eyeball to eyeball. Now I've met a lot of fine women before but that babe topped the list. This girl was sexy! She talks in an English accent; she has short black hair, fine ass and a pair of sexy lips. I happened to see her naked one day. She got a tattoo of black cross about that sexy ass."

"With the way you're giving me all those details I would say you had a one night stand with her."

"Fuck no! Well, yeah, I tried, but she turned me down. She said she's not that kind of girl. She introduced herself as Mina Harker. She told me that she was responsible for the deaths I called out. Let me tell you something, she got this sword she calls The Final Dawn, a Japanese katana sword. I offered her a job with a payroll of $4 million a hit. She hesitated at first, but then she said that she would take job only if she could do it for free. She did one hell of a job for me for two years. There was one thing I couldn't understand, though. How could she kill her own kind with an ordinary sword? Our kind isn't weak against that. But then I thought maybe "The Final Dawn" was just one hell of a sword. One day somebody broke the news to me that Mina killed my man who was in charge of overlooking this group's operations. The thing about it is she killed him by sucking out his blood. I really don't know how the fuck she did that. No vampire could drink another vampire's blood. All of us were caught of guard. I forgot to mention she's got this attitude. You can't fuck with this girl. I could remember this time when she cut off this guy's arm after he tried to put the moves on her. We were more or less scared shitless of her all the while she worked for us. She gets really pissed off if you call her the Bride of Dracula. I started to get reports that she was killing off my men one by one, that's when I decided that Mina was a bad apple that had to go. She stabbed us in the fucking back. We haven't done anything to this girl. I just couldn't understand why she was taking us out. When we started to go after her she just vanished into thin air. Nobody ever saw or heard from her again."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah…Well I'm hearing reports that this group got some new talent."

"What group?"

"Some group with connections to Swann Banks Ltd. I don't know what kind of arsenal they've got, but I heard that they've got a new gun that took out twelve different leaders of twelve different groups three years ago. There's one thing I wanna ask you though. If you're a vampire hunter how do you plan to take out that bitch? I forgot to tell you that many vampire hunters were unto her in the past but they never had any luck in killing her."

"Yeah, I know. But you don't worry about that. I've got it all covered."

"I doubt it. Your state of the art technology can't find somebody who's probably the best of our kind. If you want, I can grant you the chose of becoming one of us because Mina isn't your problem alone. We can feel the presence of our kind anywhere, anytime."

"Thanks, but I prefer the human life."

"Well, it's your loss. You're never gonna take her down."

"Why don't you put the money where your mouth is?"

After that encounter I left the room and walked my way out of the club. My palms were sweaty and I was shaky due to intense fear. How the fuck did you get yourself into this shit, Annie? You're gonna get yourself killed! By the way, you don't have a plan to take out Mina Harker. Are you crazy? I then began to think about the info what Abrams gave me. So Mina Harker was yanking Abrams' chain when she pledged her loyalty to him. Abrams said vampires are immune to plain sword's mineral components. Who could've forged The Final Dawn? Abrams couldn't tell me why Mina Harker has a thing for vampire blood. So Mina Harker works for this organisation with close ties to Swann Banks Ltd. Swann Banks Ltd was a big organisation and well respected too. I can't imagine such an organisation being run by vampires. But hey, in this world anything is possible. Next stop: Swann Banks Ltd.

_**I WANT ALL OF YOU TO STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER BECAUSE IT'S SO DAMN TWISTED! HERE'S YOUR FIRST CLUE: HAS ANYONE SEEN THE MOVIE "BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN"?**_


	16. Chapter 16

**_After interviewing the leader of Neo Elysium, Nathaniel Abrams, Anna Van Helsing discovers that the Bride of Dracula, Mina Harker, had once worked for Abrams in the past and had since disappeared. Anna discovered that a group with close ties to the cooperation Swann Banks Ltd has recruited new talent for their activities. Anna sets out to meet with the head of Swann Banks Ltd in hopes to finding out more about Mina Harker and the name of the organisation to which it has close ties to, but this next encounter will be more than she bargained for! _**

**Chapter 16 **

Downtown Los Angeles, 9:10 am. I'm leaning on a street sign wearing sunglasses and with my hands in my pockets expecting someone. The night before I downloaded information on the vampire hunters and vampires of Los Angeles trying to dig up whatever info I could find on Swann Banks Ltd. What I found was no surprise. Swann Banks Ltd mostly consisted of bloodsuckers. I went to a chat room and communicated with the organization's CEO. I was told that I would meet the company's CEO at West 4th Street at 9 am in the next morning. I looked at my watch which now read 9:15 am. I shoved my hands back in my pocket growing impatient by the minute and at the same time the heat started to show no mercy. Sweat streamed down my face and I blew making sweat spray in the air. Suddenly a black stretch Lincoln Town Car limousine pulled up at my left. I walked over to the limo leaned forward and took off my sunglasses staring at the black tinted window at the passenger's side. The window rolled down with an electrical hum to reveal a woman looking at me with a smile. The woman was tall, thin and extremely pale and dressed in a long-sleeved, navy blue blouse and a short navy blue skirt. She had short, blonde hair and piercing light blue eyes. She had a look that was beautiful, mesmerizing and seductive. It was like looking at an angel. "Hop in, dear," the woman said in a soft spoken seductive voice. "The air conditioning's top of the line."

"Ibis Swann?" I said.

"Okay then, forget it."

"Okay, okay. You've convinced me." I stepped into the limo and closed the door. Within seconds the limo drove off. I sat there with my legs crossed at looked around at the limo's interior. There were long benches on both sides, the windows were cleaned to utmost perfection and the air conditioning was really state-of-the art; it made me forget that I was sweating like a pig a few moments ago. I stared at the driver's seat hoping to catch a glimpse of the chauffeur, but the driver's seat was blocked by a black barrier. All the while when I was relishing in the luxury I was now in, the lady at my left was still smiling and she never took her eyes of me for one second. Her name was Ibis Swann. She was the founder and CEO of Swann Banks Ltd, a multinational commercial bank with outlets held around the globe and with its main headquarters right in Los Angeles. Ibis Swann's own personal fortune was estimated at $20 billion, though she was very modest about it. On the flip side, however, Ibis Swann was a pureblood vampire. She was 412 years old, but she had the look of a woman in her mid twenties. She used her own fortune and her company's assets to help fund the activities of many vampire groups around the world, in terms of the shipment of arms and the training of vampire group members. Did I mention that her company had little, if any humans at all? She had her own personal security force called the Guardian Knights comprising of 75 males. The vampire's thirst for blood is subdued during daytime so I was safe. "Care to tell me your name, sweetheart?" said Swann.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "My name is Madison Carey." Madison Carey was another alias I used to hide my identity.

"Madison Carey, huh? I could've sworn you were a man when I met you back there."

"Well, that's what everybody says."

"How old are you?"

"….Seventeen."

"Mm, the younger the better. So you're a vampire hunter."

"That's right."

"Now what would a vampire hunter want with me?" Swann placed her right hand on my left leg and started rubbing my leg. I was caught off guard and it just made my skin crawl. "I would like you to tell me what you know about Mina Harker. You guys call her Bride of Dracula," I said trying to subdue my discomfort of Swann stroking my leg. Swann turned her head to the window at her left and sighed. "Mina Harker," she said. "Lord Dracula was sure lucky to have a woman like her." I suddenly felt Swann's fingers touch my crutch and I started to stare her down with a hard, menacing look. Swann turned her head from the window and looked at me with a smile. I pulled back a piece of my jacket that was covering my left leg and exposed my H&K USP pistol that was tucked in a gun holster that was strapped unto my leg. It was an effort to get her to stop touching me. Swann kept on smiling and released my leg. She then crossed her long, clean shaven, pale legs, pulled down a piece of her dress and exposed a Walther P5 pistol strapped unto her right leg. "This is a brand new limo," Swann said. "I don't wanna have it messed up already. Try not to be so uptight." I reluctantly complied and covered my handgun with my jacket. I felt defeated and helpless. I forgot to mention it: Ibis Swann was a lesbian. The info I had on her was that she had over 1,000 female lovers over the past 350 years and nearly all of her victims were women and young girls. That mansion of hers was often a haven for her desires. She was also known to pay $10,000 to every female prostitute who visited her and she would sometimes sleep with five women in one day. Though her heart remained with women, she was not a tomboy like I was. She was what is described as a "lipstick lesbian". She was a feminine woman who was attracted to other feminine woman and not to masculine women. She already came out of the closet in her public life ten years prior, but I don't think anybody knew the exact scale of her activities where that was concerned. I guess the Guardian Knights were the only men in her life. I was in for one hell of a ride.

"Well...,can we get down to business?" I said.

"I'm always ready when you're ready, dear," said Swann stroking her fingers on my cheek. The more she called me "dear" and stuff like that and the more she touched me made my blood crawl even more. Suddenly there was the ringing of a cell phone that butted in our conversation. Swann reached into her pocket on the left lower side of her blouse and pulled out a black Motorola RAZR V3 flip cell phone. She flipped it open, pressed a button and engaged in a conversation that lasted about three minutes. "Yeah. Uh-huh. It's alright. You could buy any dress you want. Just make sure it's not shit that's worth my whole $50 million, okay?" Swann said to the person on the other line. "Don't worry; I'll be there just in time for the rehearsals. Love you too. Bye." She clapped the phone shut and placed it back in her pocket. "That was my fiancée, Rachel," Swann said. "We're gonna get married in San Francisco in two weeks." I started to grind my teeth and hang my head. I then felt the hair rise on the back of my neck. Don't get me wrong. I'm not homophobic, but man, that was too much! Here's a lady who was already engaged with another woman, yet she's flirting with me and she probably had some more hookers waiting for her at home. I guess there was no stopping her when it came to her and the same sex. "Now, where were we, honey?" Swann said moving closer to me. I looked her dead in the dead in those baby blues and my lower lip started to quiver. I was so uncomfortable words can't even begin to describe it. Swann, on the other hand, kept on smiling. She had this smile that was closely similar to that of the famous Mona Lisa. The more she smiled the more my blood crawled and it also reached to the point of becoming annoying. Apparently she was aware of my discomfort, but she didn't seem to care. "Uh…we were talking about this vampire Mina Harker," I said.

"Oh yes." She wrapped her right arm around me and though I was wearing jacket and a white T-shirt I felt a strong chill through her clothing. At the same time my blood was crawling almost to the point of it bursting through my veins. What the fuck's the matter with you, lady? You don't know me like that!

"Well, what can I say about Mina Harker?" said Swann. "She's most beautiful woman ever to walk among us."

"Well, that's not what I really wanna know," I said. "Have you ever had an encounter with this chick?"

"Why, yes. Exactly five years ago. Word got out that there was somebody killing off our race who was an exceptional killer, killing up to 50 vampires in a day. At first I thought it was one of you vampire hunters who happened to get better at what you do, but then I heard this person got shot up several times and couldn't be killed. That only meant one thing: this person was a vampire. Only we are immune to ordinary bullets. One day the president, Henry Larson, was killed. He was one of the most important members of our board of directors. Then another time two more members of our board got killed and then the vice president, Louis Schmidt, was found dead as well, killed on his way to work. It was with all this shit going on that we decided to launch our own investigation into these murders. We started doing surveillance on several groups and every time we'd eavesdrop on these guys this name kept popping up: Mina Harker. We'd sometimes catch these guys and try to beat out whatever info they had on this girl. Sometimes the info was useful but most of the time they didn't give us anything that was helpful. You see, very little is known about Mina. Most of the info we got was hearsay and rumors. There was one interesting thing one guy said about Mina. Mina Harker is known as the Bride of Dracula. They call her that because of some relationship she had with Lord Dracula."

"What kind of relationship?"

"Well that's what I'd to know myself, honey."

"Do you really believe Count Dracula existed? I mean, some people, especially some vampire hunters don't think he was real."

"Well, do you believe God exists? If there is a God then there was a Dracula. You can almost compare the two. Lord Dracula lived for centuries and came across every vampire hunter, but these guys never had any luck in killing him. Lord Dracula was immune to all their methods of killing. It was until one day Dracula was finally killed. Nobody knew how the fuck it happened. From that moment his death remained a mystery. Coming back to Mina; the main reason we call her the Bride of Dracula because for some reason or the other, the blood of Lord Dracula runs through her veins. Nobody knows exactly how a member of our race could possess Count Dracula's blood. We've been trying to come up with an answer for so long but we just can't put our finger on it. I've been hearing lots of things about this girl: how she got shot with silver nitrate bullets, how she got staked in the heart, how she was set on fire and how she bore the full brunt of an explosion. I'm not kidding. One guy told me that he and a couple of guys tracked Mina down one time at this cafeteria in Rome and they hid a bomb in the place. He said when the smoke started pouring in the air Mina walked out on a limp actually holding her intestines with her left arm and face nearly shredded to bits and her right arm blown off. Next thing you know, she started growing a new arm and a new jaw that was blown off and all of her wounds just closed up and before they knew it Mina was her old self again as if nothing happened."

"Motherfucker!"

"Tell me about it. More things about Mina started to come up the more we started to dig in. She was born in England and has been roaming the world since. Now, England really turns me on because that country has some really lovely women. I also heard that Mina carries around this sword. What's it called? The Final Dawn, a Japanese katana sword. The vampires I talked to are scared shitless of that sword. The sword got its name because whenever a vampire came across Mina that sword would be the last thing they ever see before they leave this world. Mina is said to have killed well over 6,000 vampires. Another to point out: Mina drinks vampire blood."

"Yeah, I've been hearing about that."

"Crazy, isn't it? I could remember standing face to face with the body of Louis Schmidt. He was skinny and wrinkled all over. It was like somebody just juiced him out. Then I saw something that looked like tooth marks on the left side of his neck. I wondered how a vampire could feed on its own kind. It's just brilliant! I consulted with the board and we all thought up a way to make Mina Harker work for us. With her on our side many vampire hunters and other vampire organizations would discover that we were a force to be reckoned with. While we were drawing up our plans the employees of the company would soon fall victim to Mina. Mina then issued a warning, via one survivor; she was coming for yours truly. It was then that I thought an encounter with the legend herself would be a good opportunity to work out a deal so I decided to be the bait. May 17th, 2000; there I was sitting in my office. Mina Harker suddenly bursts into the room and we were looking at each other eyeball to eyeball. God, I've been hearing how Mina was vicious and invincible and all that shit but nobody told how beautiful she is! She has pretty blue eyes, these lovely lips and short, jet-black hair that had a fine shine. She was wearing this black skin-tight leather suit that gave a full view of how built she was and her lovely breasts and her sexy a…"

"Mrs. Swann, please! You don't have to tell me all that! I just wanna know how you got out of the whole thing!"

"Well, I was getting to that before you rudely interrupted me and by the way, you can call me Ibis."

"Alright, _Ibis_."

"Anyway, there she was drawing her sword out from her back. Right there I stopped her the moment my eyes met her sword. I asked her who hired her to kill me; she said no one. I then asked her what she hoped to achieve by killing me. She expression on her face soon changed from aggressive to like, lost. It was like I hit her with a trick question, a question she couldn't answer. I told her whatever she was looking for through killing her own kind I would help her if she agreed to join me. Suddenly rushed up to me and stuck her sword up to my neck and started to breath real hard on me. I probably pissed her off when I offered my bargain. She then asked me if I was trying to bribe her like all the others to become a low-life fuck like our entire race. I then wondered what "others"? Right there I decided to cease all diplomatic measures and initiate force. You see I wasn't gonna take no for an answer. If Mina Harker wasn't gonna join the ride, tie her up and throw her ass in the trunk. The members of my Guardian Knights broke in and tried to take her down with their stun batons. It seemed to pin her down for a few moments but then she got up sliced one of them in half. She then shredded the last four to bits. At that same moment seven other guys ran into the place with knives in their hands, all wanting to have a piece of her. I could tell you one thing: Mina is an exceptional martial artist. The way she held off those guys was something out of sight. I wish I knew what style that was. Three of the guys tried to rush me to safety, but before I knew it, Mina was right on our asses. She killed all three of the Guardian Knights until she came down to me. There we were, right back in the same way we were moments before, staring each other down. Before I knew it, I felt something entering my body and then I looked down to see The Final Dawn creeping slowly inside of me. I looked Mina in the eyes and saw no emotion at all; just a cold stone face. She started to push me backwards with her sword until she literally stuck me to the wall. She pulled it out and raised it the air trying to make one last strike. All of a sudden one Guardian Knight 6ft 3inches tall, 250 pounds, held her from behind and slit her throat. At the same time another Guardian Knight pulled me away and rushed me downstairs to a car and we were outta there. The last thing I saw was Mina jumping on the other Guardian Knights back and breaking his neck."

"Holy shit! You sure are one lucky bitch to make it out alive."

"Yeah, but it came with a price." Ibis started to unbutton her blouse from the last two buttons. What now? Did she cut off one of your tits? She then revealed a long, yet, very thin scar at the left side of her lower abdomen which was a few meters away from a beautiful belly button. "It starts here and it ends in the back," she said. "It required some stitches. Here's a perfect example why that sword is called The Final Dawn. Any wound inflicted by that sword never heals. But I have no hard feelings. I still love Mina. I kinda like that feistiness in a girl." I shook my head in disgust "Whatever," I sighed.

"You're the one who sent me that e-mail last night, right?" Ibis said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Well, why can't we move on to the other thing you wanted to talk about?" Ibis started to stroke my abdomen from top to bottom. "Mm, nice abdominals. You work out? I happen to remember Mina having the same muscles like you," she said. I suddenly felt the adrenaline rush in my body and I grabbed her hand and threw it on her lap. Ibis laughed and said "I understand. But who knows? You might change your mind."

"Moving on to the next subject," I said putting my best efforts into controlling my anger and discomfort. "A source told me that there was this organisation that's closely affiliated with your company that supposedly has this efficient killer working for them. I'd like you to give me whatever info you have on this company. What's its name and what it involves itself in?"

"Very well," said Ibis. Ibis hugged me tight until both our shoulders touched. "It's an organisation called Spears Inc." said Ibis. "It specializes in the production of military equipment in the U.S. and some parts in Europe and Southeast Asia. My company has been buying stuff from them for twelve years. They also run this underground organisation called Lance of Dusk, their own private army who's been waging this low-level war on the humans. Its leader's name is Peter Craig. He started Spears Inc. forty years ago during the first year of the Vietnam War. His company's been winning contracts ever since and I heard that he just recently won another one. What nobody knew including some members of our race is that behind the scenes he was using all the raw materials from his company to groom warriors so "powerful" that humans wouldn't last for a second to have a good look at them. Now, I don't know if he's been successful with his little crusade but I've hearing that his "army" now stands at 135,000. I didn't believe it the first time a heard it but he offered me about twenty and they did one hell of a job! I don't really have anything against the humans. I just bought them off for security reasons."

"Do you think that Mina works for him?"

"It's a possibility. Peter never shares any information about any members."

"By the way, do you know anything about certain vampires worshipping Mina like some god?"

"Come to think of it, there is this sect who worships her. It's called Dragon's Temple. They believe that Mina holds the key to world domination; how she'll lead all vampires to victory against the humans. But I think they're wasting their time because I doubt that Mina's flattered about this. They view her existence as like the coming of a Messiah, or something. They've tried to contact her several times but were unsuccessful. It seems like the more Mina stayed away the more they'd whorship her."

"Where exactly do they meet?"

"I've been hearing that they hold meetings somewhere at this place near West Hollywood. I doubt that you'll get an easy pass."

"When there's a will, there's a way. Can you give me an idea where I could find Peter Craig?"

"That's the problem: you don't exactly find Peter Craig. I bought off his guys through a company official, not the man himself. He's always on the move, from one place to the next, every thirty minutes. That's why folks like you always catch their ass when trying to kill this guy."

I suddenly felt the engines wine down and before I knew it, the limo stopped in a quiet area in East Los Angeles. "I hope you don't mind the destination," Ibis said.

"Well, come to think of it I don't really like crowds," I said. I paused for a moment and then I thought it would be crazy for me to do it but at least it was being polite. "Thanks for your help," I said reluctantly and softly.

"You're very welcome," Ibis said with her smile. "Good luck with your investigation and if you ever meet Mina, tell her I said hello." Ibis then placed her right hand behind the back of my head drew me close and before I knew it she French kissed me, actually sucking my tongue! I was caught totally off guard. To have my tongue touch another woman's tongue was somewhat… arousing. Ibis' tongue was cold with slight saliva. It was like ice cream, basically. My eyes were wide open throughout the entire ordeal. It lasted for about five seconds. Our lips then departed and we were still close looking at each other eye to eye. A smile was present on Ibis face and my eyes were still widened and my mouth was slightly opened. I was quite excited but above all, just stunned. "By the way, I'm not wearing any undies," Ibis said softly and seductively. I then started to fumble on the door and the door popped opened. I jumped out, slammed the door and started to walk down the road very briskly, not bothering to look over my shoulder.

Later in the day, I was back home. I took off my jacket and flopped on the chair. I started to think about the info I got that morning. I was not at all surprised that Mina would kill off some of the most famous officials of a major company, once they were vampires. So the name of this place Abrams was really talking about was Spears Inc., huh? I'd really like to know if this talent of theirs has a name. Another thing, there's a group out there who worships Mina like Jesus. How the fuck will I get a pass without spilling the fact that I'm a vampire hunter? As I was thinking all this, it hit me. Holy shit! I've just been kissed by a woman! Not only that, a fucking female vampire! I rushed to the bathroom and removed the lid off the toilet bowl. I kneeled down and opened my mouth. I stayed in that position for about five minutes. I was feeling quite nauseous. I couldn't do it but I wanted to so badly. I suddenly felt my stomach turn and then I bowed my head and started to throw up. Right there I felt an easing sensation. I took a look in the toilet bowl saw the water colored red with what I ate that morning. I closed my eyes and raised my head to the ceiling. I suddenly felt all the digested food rush from my stomach to my throat and I quickly bowed my head and throw up again. I paused for thirty seconds and threw up again. I paused and threw up. Paused, threw up. Paused, threw up. I would be like this for the next six minutes.

**_I'M BACK EVERYONE! I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO SUBMIT THIS CHAPTER, BUT I WANTED IT TO BE PERFECT. IT TOOK ME THREE MONTHS TO COMPLETE IT. REASON BEING IS BECAUSE I HAVE A BUSY WORK SCHEDULE. MY PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT IS UNDERSTAFFED. ANYWAY, WOULD DO YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER? WAS THERE ANYTHING FUNNY ABOUT IT? IF THERE WERE LET ME KNOW WHICH PARTS WAS FUNNY. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CHARACTER IBIS SWANN? IN FACT, WRITE YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ONE PARTICULAR CHAPTER AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MY STORY BECAUSE I'M NOT FINISHED WITH IT YET. PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON ME! MINA HARKER STILL HAS TO MAKE HER BIG APPEARANCE! _**


	17. Chapter 17

_**After meeting another source Anna Van Helsing discovers that the name of the organisation with ties to Swann Banks Ltd is Spears Inc. It is run by Peter Craig who is also the leader of the underground vampire organisation Lance of Dusk. Finding Craig would not be easy because he is constantly on the move so Anna learns that she has to dig deeper, much deeper.**_

**Chapter 17 **

Motherfucker, I'm never putting myself in that kind of shit again. It's over now and I'll say no more of it. You know goddamn well what I'm talking about. Anyway, let me look at what I have so far. There's this guy out there who runs this military manufacturing place called Spears Inc. and this group Lance of Dusk named Peter Craig. What I've been hearing he's seriously pissed off at humans like me. He moves this way and that way every thirty minutes to avoid any kind of detection. Why can't these motherfuckers stay one place? It really wouldn't be easy reaching this guy. I'm scared of going back into those chat rooms. Now I know why there's an urgent need to clamp down on online sexual predators. But how the fuck am I gonna meet him? I decided to take one more look on my laptop. I downloaded the info I grabbed from Emma and a long list of the vampires of Los Angeles appeared on the screen. I sat there on the couch with my eyes glued to the screen staring at the funny names and info of the groups and their leaders. It just made my eyes burn. Then it hit me. I'll stick my nose up their asses. Surveillance.

The following day I rode my bike to an apartment complex located West Los Angeles. I arrived there to eavesdrop on my first target: three members of the group Eternal Covenant. I stopped my bike about twenty feet away from the apartment building and watched all three go inside. The info I had on their group was that they've been around for 300 years led by a guy named Fox Cailey, a 350 year old pure blood with a membership of about just 95. Some members of Caily's group would often meet at this area. After about forty-five minutes I saw one of the men exit the building and entering his car. The engine turned on and he drove away. At that moment I turned on the engine on my bike and drove off following him. I rode about fifteen feet away from his car to avoid detection. We both turned lane to lane for about twenty minutes until we both reached a peaceful neighbourhood. You live in this place? This is just too scary. I stopped my bike a few blocks away from the tall, thin, dark-haired man's house and watched him walk inside his house. I got off my bike and ran towards his house. I crept around the back and spotted him through a window in the kitchen with his dark-brown hair nearly covering his eyes. It looked as if he was searching for something he needed so bad. He was opening all the cabinets and the fridge at a fast paste, throwing things off the counter, and all the while he was breathing hard. He finally ended up at the cabinet under the sink and then he opened the door and found what he was probably looking for. It was a 2 litre soda bottle with something dark in it. He quickly screwed off the top and put the bottle in his mouth and started drinking. He held the bottle straight up and bended his neck backwards. The dark substance was bubbling down into his throat and I could see something crimson trickle at the side of his mouth. He suddenly stopped drinking to catch a breath. He then started drinking again until the bottle was empty. I then realized something: that's human blood he's drinking. Jesus, poor fucker! Do these pricks need it _that_ bad? He then threw the bottle down and walked out of the kitchen and out the door of his house in a fast paste. I crept to the front and spotted him turning on the engine and driving away. I returned to the back of the house and approached the door. I reached into my jacket and pulled out a lock pick and a tension wrench and proceeded to unlock the door. Where did I get these from? My answer is simple: Don't ask! But I will tell you that I learned this stuff from Danny. I placed my items into the key hole and pulled down the plug of the lock with the tension wrench and tried to reach for one of the pins in the lock. I started biting my lower lip as I tried to get the lock pick directly on top one of the pins. Five seconds would pass before I heard CLICK. I turned the door knob and the door slowly opened. I crept slowly in the kitchen and looked at the kitchen table. I thought this would have been a great place for motherfuckers like him to talk shit so I decided to place a bug under the table. After fixing the bug I quickly exited the house, jumped on my bike and drove away.

The following night I descended on that guy's house in that quiet neighbourhood to see if I could scoop up any ties he had to Peter Craig. I sat on my bike a few meters away from the guy's house and clicked on my transmitter to listen in on any conversations taking place. It sounded as if four guys were playing poker. "So how's that assignment going, Jeff?" said one speaker.

"What assignment?" said the other speaker.

"You know the hit on that Harker chick? You and Todd were gonna get big bills for that?"

"Well what do you think? Let Todd tell you."

"Well… we used every piece of shit Craig gave us," said the speaker named Todd. "All the online files, all the weapons, everything. We had some extra help from two of Craig's guys who taught us everything we needed to know about this girl. Then the big hit came. We tracked Mina down to this house where she was supposed to be taking out one of Craig's closest associates. Mina threatened this guy before and when she came around it wasn't the guy she was looking for. That's when Jeff and I along with four other guys from Craig's crew made our move. Craig's guys got the cool stuff like M203 grenade launchers and hand grenades and all Jeff and I got was a fucking UZI and a Glock. Man, I can't tell you how sexy this girl was. They don't call her The Bride of Dracula for nothing. Anyway, we threw everything we had on this girl but the bullets weren't doing shit. I'm gonna tell you this one moment when I saw Mina Harker crawling on the floor with both her legs blown off and her guts dragging along when we threw a grenade at her. But in a split second it looked like she was growing new legs and that big hole in her stomach was closing up. I ran up to her and put two shots in her skull. And then all of a sudden she turned on her back and took off my fucking leg with that sword of hers. What's it called again, Jeff?"

"The Final Dawn," said Jeff.

"Yeah that," said Todd. "And that's when she crawled her way into a bedroom."

Yeah, and you were on the floor screamin' like a bitch," said Jeff.

"Fuck you."

"Anyway, me and this guy named Hal tracked her down," said Jeff. "Hal was way ahead of me when I saw him go into the room. I heard him screaming and I opened the door and saw Mina drinking his blood. Shit, I could've thrown up the moment I saw her stickin' her teeth in his neck. I grabbed her from behind and put a couple of shots in her back. And then she took out her sword and gouged out my fucking eye. After that she took out another one of Craig's guys named Zell and then she fucking got away."

"Hey, look on the bright side. You look a whole lot sexier with one eye," said a third speaker.

"Fuck you," said Jeff.

"What about Hal?" said the very first speaker.

"You don't wanna know, man. You should see him. Mina almost sucked him dry. He looks like a fucking old granny. He's really lucky to be alive, but he ain't the man he used to be. He can't get around no where and he's living off all the blood supply he could get. It's not working though. He'll remain an old bitch all his life. Poor prick."

"Where is he now?"

"He's somewhere at this motel he owns along with some other guys at West 12th Street. He's probably bed ridden now."

"I'm tellin' you, man; Mina Harker is the reason why Craig build up his army in the first place. He's just obsessed with that bitch," said Todd.

"You can't really blame him, though," said Jeff. "Mina's a fucking back stabber. I think she's workin' for the humans."

"No way, man. She still has a thing for human blood," said a fourth speaker.

"Yeah, but since when did she started to dig vampire blood?" Todd.

"Why don't you ask that senator who you worked for, Jake? You know, Grendel Mohr?" said Jeff.

"I was through with that dick two years ago. Remember?" said Jake. "I don't know what the fuck Craig's thinking trying to take down this chick. I heard Mina cut Mohr's kid down to size. He and couple other guys tracked Mina down and tried to take her out with some flame throwers. They actually torched her down to the fucking bone but she still had some fight in her despite the fact that she was nothin' but a skeleton. I ain't fucking with you guys."

Nobody said you were, man," said the first speaker. "Man, I wonder what it's like to a walking bag full of Lord Dracula's blood."

"It's gotta be like sittin' on top of fucking world," said Jeff. "She's gotta have a huge fan base."

"Of course she does," said Jake. "Dragon's Temple got 2,000 members who couldn't stop talkin' about this girl for thirty years. What do they want anyway, a fucking autograph?"

"If we can't kill this bitch those humans would probably have better luck than us," said Todd.

"No fucking way," said Jeff. "Mina's so motherfucking lucky she has the blood of Dracula. Silver nitrate can't bring her down. She just kills any vampire hunter who tries to fuck with her and she ain't taking any prisoners." After listening in for five more minutes I clicked off the transmitter and drove off to downtown L.A.

Riding slowly through the dark streets of Los Angeles I started to think about what occurred a few minutes before. So this guy Jake worked for Senator Mohr, huh? In order to find Peter Craig I had to find this guy named Hal. He's got to be really fucked up. I can't imagine anybody surviving something like that. Those guys were sure lucking to be alive to spill their guts. As I was riding between apartment complexes I suddenly heard the sound of a girl screaming. As I approached further the screams got louder. I was thirty feet away when my eyes caught something that stabbed in me in the chest. I saw a girl being raped by four men. The girl had long brown hair and green eyes and she looked a bit younger than I was. The men that were raping her looked like college guys. There was one who held her from behind and another one who was holding her legs. Apparently he was trying to pull down her pants. I watched in horror as two other guys were taking turns trying to take off her top. The girl was kicking and screaming the whole time. The scene just sucked all the air out of my body. As I was watching this unfold I was wondering if I should help, call for help or just run away and pretend I didn't see anything. As I was thinking all this I saw the man who was holding the girl from behind suddenly bare two long fangs. The guy who was trying to pull down her pants suddenly revealed two glowing yellow eyes and showed fangs; so did the other two. I then realized these guys were vampires. As the girl saw the rapists' true identities she screamed even louder. I started to do some quick thinking. Do I intervene? Do I run away and call for help or do I run away pretend I didn't see anything. My heart started to beat at a fast paste when I saw the guy behind the girl started to reach for her neck and one of the guys trying to grab her hand. I figured that this girl's life was in my hands because I didn't want to have a girl so young starting to link herself with these pricks. I pulled out my H&K USP pistol and shot the guy from behind in the head and shot the other guy who held unto the girl's hand in the chest. They both screamed as they fell into a pile of burning ash and dust. I ran toward the scene when the vampire who held onto the girl's pants got up started to swing his fists at me. I ducked with every punch he tried to throw and I got up and stabbed him in the chest with a stake. He then disintegrated into burning ash. The other guy ran towards me with a clenched fist. He threw it into my face and I moved my head to the right and held onto his out stretched arm. I pulled out a stake and drove it into the centre of his chest. I released his arm and watched him scream as he turned into burning ash and dust. After that I started to breath hard and my heart was in my throat. I heard the girl sobbing uncontrollably behind my back and I turned around to try to comfort her. "Are you alright?" I said running towards her.

"Get away from me!" the girl screamed.

"Hey..."

"Don't touch me! WHO ARE YOU?!? WHAT WERE THEY?!?" I pulled her towards me and clasped my hands on her cheeks trying to calm her down. "Hey, listen to me! Listen me!" I said. "Forget about what just happened! You never saw it! You hear me? Go home. Don't tell your parents or call the police. You didn't see anything. Now go!" The girl started to back away slowly and at the same time she still stared at me and breathed at a fast paste. In her eyes there was a mix sense of fear, shock and probably gratitude. She then turned around and ran away.

I stood there in that alley surrounded by the smoking remains of the would-be vampire rapists. I felt proud of the fact that I saved that girl's life but I suddenly had a feeling of regret. I've just blown my cover. Next thing you know the authorities would be all over this. What if I exposed the secret lives of other vampire hunters? I could see it right now, all over the fucking news: "VAMPIRES AMONG US." "GIRL SAVES MINOR FROM DEMONS." I never wanted this kind of attention. It would throw Los Angeles, America and the world, for that matter into a panic. The authorities wouldn't know how to handle vampires and then the entire human race would be in a world of shit. I was just trying to make sure that want happened to my friend Karen didn't happen to anybody else. If I just stood there and watch a girl so young get killed by a bunch of horny pricks, let alone vampires, I wouldn't have forgiven myself. God I really did it this time. It's my ass if Danny happens to find out. I'd better get the fuck outta here.

**_I'M SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO SEND UP THIS CHAPTER. LIKE I SAID, I HAVE A VERY BUSY WORK SCHEDULE. PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON ME. TRY TO BE PATIENT. I STILL HAVE A NEXT CHAPTER TO DO AND I'M TRYING MY BEST TO FINISH THIS STORY BEFORE MY JOB KILLS ME. SERIOUSLY! _**


	18. Chapter 18

_**A day after following her heroic rescue of a girl from being raped and killed by a group of vampires, Anna Van Helsing moves on trying to put the incident behind her, fearing that she has exposed a side of her no other humans should have seen. She also sets out to find a member of Peter Craig's group Lance of Dusk named "Hal". Along the way she would soon have a motive for hunting the Bride of Dracula; a motive she never had before. **_

**Chapter 18 **

Oh Christ, these fucking headaches again! I haven't slept for some days now. Looking for Mina Harker, a.k.a. The Bride of Dracula was starting to take its toll. The flu came with it too. I laid in bed hoping that nobody would call me for rent or a mission. At the same time I had my gun under my pillow. I was afraid that as I exposed myself to many possibly dangerous vampire leaders and that they would be coming for my ass. I became more paranoid. I tried my best to keep my eyes open every night because those assholes would be bursting through the door or the window the moment I laid my guard down. I would lie in bed on my stomach with my hand holding the gun under my pillow. The more I thought about the perceived danger the worst my headaches got. One time in particular I was awake at around 4:15 a.m. in the morning. I heard pattering outside the window next to my bed. The pattering suddenly grew louder and more intense. It was just the rain. As I laid there listening to the rain I tried my best not to think about Mina Harker. What is it about this girl that's drawing me closer to her? Why can't I just stop this shit right now? There's nothing to gain from it. Yeah, that's it why don't I just stop? I'm through with this shit from now on. Mina Harker could just kiss my ass.

It was around 6:20 a.m. when I suddenly heard beeping on the top of my chest drawer. I got up and walked over to the chest drawer to listen into headset in which I communicate with Danny. God, it's so good to hear his voice. Even though he could be a real dick sometimes, he was the only family I had. A few nights ago he was all over my ass for not answering his calls when he needed me on the missions we were supposed to do. He even told me that he had to do one mission without me. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you, Annie," he said. I was stunned. What bad news he could be giving me this hour. "Alan and Lex are dead,"

"Dead? How?" I said totally shocked.

"Meet me at Steve's place. I'll tell you all about it." I quickly threw on some clothes, ran down stairs, jumped on my bike and drove off to Steve's house. Riding through the streets of L.A. the raindrops were hitting my face due to speed at which I was riding. I wore a baseball cap hoping it would help me from keeping my head wet. All that rushing apparently made the flu worst than before and I was now fucked by rain. I screwed my face trying to keep my eyes on the road in the heavy rainfall and at the same time I began to ponder on the unbelievable news I got. Alan Hamill and Alexis Foster were close comrades of mine. Alan was the one who taught me how to fire a gun when I first started hunting vampires. He was about seven years older than I was and the kind of patience he had with me during my early days was second to none. He was such a good mentor I actually wished _he_ was my brother. I remembered clearly a mission I was on with him no more than a month prior to that time. It was the first time we've ever seen each other for two years. Alexis who we called Lex was Alan's long time girlfriend. She was the kind who provided the on-the-job training. She was about nineteen when Alan first introduced me to her the night I first started to hunt those blood-sucking pricks. As far as I was concerned she was more of a pro than Alan was when it came to doing what she did. I got to see her a lot and there was never a year that went by when I never went on missions with Lex. That's how we got so close. She saved my ass so many times and I would end up returning the favour. On our first night together, shooting a gun would scare me shitless. Lex pointed out one thing I'll never forget: never shoot with your eyes closed because they (the vampires) will always get away or get you. While Alan was the quiet and serious one, Lex always talked her ass off and always seemed to shed a light on dark moments. By looks of those two I thought they were invincible because they'd cheat death so many times. How come they weren't so lucky this time?

Steve O'Brian's house was a mile west of Los Angeles. He was a devout Roman Catholic and a close friend of Danny's and often provided the state-of-the art technology that was used in our missions. It took me forty minutes when I finally reached his house. I ran to the front door trying to escape the rain. I knocked on the door and heard the locks unlocking. Danny answered the door and on his face was clearly an expression something really bad had happened. His nose was also patched up with a huge bandage. I found _that_ strange He took me by the shoulder and led me into the living room where I found Steve and about three members of his group Divine Punishment sitting on the couches. Steve gave me a seat and he and Danny began their story. Alan and Lex had joined up with them two nights before to take out the leader of the vampire group The Brotherhood of Doom, Rich Troy. They got info from a captured member who revealed to them that Troy was with this woman who The Brotherhood called the Girl of Steel at this crack house just south of L.A. The Girl of Steel was said to be a trusted member of The Brotherhood of Doom and Troy was probably there to offer her another assignment.

Danny, Steve, Alan and Lex along with ten members of Divine Punishment stormed the crack house where they search room to room chasing out the human occupants. Danny was with Alan and Lex the whole time so he gave full detail about what happened next. "Al and I heard screaming coming from the last room of the house," said Danny. "Both of us along with Lex went to investigate and we found Joe and Nick dead in a bedroom. It's like they got hacked to death. We then heard gunfire coming from a room next door and got there just in time to see a girl stick a sword in Leo's chest (Joe Duncan, Nick Vance and Leo Rudd were members of Divine Punishment). Alan, Lex and I started to pump shots into her. The bullets were hitting her the way how bullets would hit a human, but all of a sudden, her wounds started closing up and blood was even sucking back in. It was like the bullets weren't to doing shit. This girl took this sword of hers and stabbed Al and then she stabbed Lex, literally sticking her to the fucking wall. I rammed the bitch against the wall and stabbed her in the chest with a stake. Before I knew it she smashed my nose and everything just went black and next thing ya know I woke up in this house the next day."

"I can't tell you how sorry I am about all this," said Steve. "As long as I knew you, you were really close to them."

"The thing about it is, we didn't find Troy in that shit hole. I really think that motherfucker set us up," said Danny

"I don't understand it," Steve continued. "How come there's a vampire out there who's strong against silver nitrate?"

"I don't know, man. I hope to God I don't come across that bitch again. But somebody's gotta get her back some how. I mean, we can't let her kill a bunch of our guys and fucking get away it."

I was thinking the same thing too. I was just too pissed off to shed any tears. I had a good idea who was responsible: Mina Harker. Jesus Christ! This bitch just doesn't fucking care who she shreds to bits. Just thinking about the way Alan and Lex died made me shake with rage. Don't these suck heads have a fucking heart? "Can you remember how this woman looked like, Danny?" I said.

"Well," said Danny. "She's about as tall as you are, jet black hair and wearing a leather suit."

"Do remember the kind of sword she had?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, it's probably a katana."

Fuckin' "A" it's Mina. Earlier that morning I was thinking about calling off this little quest of mine to search for Mina; but the moment I got news of Alan and Lex's deaths I found purpose in that search for their murderer. I wasn't about revenge. It was finding a way to launch a pre-emptive strike; getting her before she got us. I was positive more than ever that the search for Mina Harker would bear fruit.

Later that night I stayed up in bed unable to sleep following the sudden tragic deaths of Alan and Lex. At the same time I was thinking of a way to reach my next target: Hal. I looked at the alarm clock which read 12:25 a.m. I was thinking maybe I should go pay him a visit at that motel at West 12th Street. But look at the time and I got the flu. Fuck it. In this world there's no such thing as a holiday. I rode on my bike for thirty minutes until I finally made it to a motel called Daily Inn. It was a two story building that was located at the edge of East Los Angeles. I got off my bike and parked it at the side of the building and then walked to the lobby. Dressed in a black combat uniform and black boots, I walked up to the desk and ordered a room. I wasn't there to spend the night; I was there to look for this "Hal". I was given room 345 and guided to a flight of stairs by an employee who pointed out my room that was at the edge of a long corridor. I walked over to the last door and proceeded to unlock it when I heard a door unlock behind me and I turned around and saw a man step out of a room that was three doors away from me. The employee who showed me to my room said, "How's Hal doing?"

"Worse than before," said the man. "I don't thing he's gonna make it, man." The tall green-eyed, brown-hair man pulled out a huge bunch of keys and locked the door. He and the employee then walked down the corridor and disappeared down the stairs. I thought, Hal huh? Let's check out what's behind door number 1. I walked up to the door and discovered it was room 342. I unzipped my black track suit what I was wearing over my top, pulled out a pair of black gloves out of my back pack and a black ski mask. After putting them all on, I pulled out my H&K USP pistol and cocked it. I then pulled out a card I had with me and slipped it through the small crease of the door. I held on tight on the doorknob as I quietly tried to unlock it. After five seconds the lock went CLICK. I slowly turned the knob and the door pooped open. I opened the door slowly and crept in. As I entered the room and I suddenly became horrified by the sight of an odd looking man lying on a bed at right end corner next to an opened window. I closed the door behind me gently and barricaded myself in the room by sticking the top of a chair under the doorknob. I slowly approached the man who had a syringe stuck to his vain along with a cannula which was connected with what appeared to be a huge pack filled with blood. The man was deathly pale and so skinny I could count the bones in his rib cage. If I had my way I could've literally break him like a twig. His stomach was sunken in and his skin was wrinkled. He had a smooth bald spot with a patch of red hair in the back of his head. His mouth was slightly opened exposing two long fangs and he had hoarse breathing. The guy was just a dry prune; he could almost past for an anorexic. Come to think of it, Gabriel Heinrich was just like this. The only difference was that there wasn't an inch of life left in him.

I crept up to him slowly. Suddenly I was startled when he raised his head and was looking at me eyeball to eyeball with those yellow eyes that almost came out of his skull. "Who are you?" he said in a slow, raspy voice. I rushed up to him, placed my left hand over his mouth, pulled out my gun with my right hand and stuck it to the centre of his temple. "Are you Hal?" I said removing my hand from his mouth still sticking my gun to his head. I could tell by the look in his cocked eyes that he was scared shitless. "Hal Pollock," he said with a slight nod. "Who needs to know?"

"Look, pal," I said. "If you don't wanna make things harder than they really are, it's best you let me ask the questions. Do you know anybody by the name of Peter Craig?" Hal paused for a second, then shook his head slightly and said "No." I shoved my gun to his head violently. He finally confessed saying "I worked for him once, in Lance of Dusk. I was his second in command."

"Interesting. And what is sole purpose of the Lance of Dusk?"

"To wipe out the human race of course."

"Mm hmm. Does the Bride of Dracula ring a bell?" Hall paused for a second. "I never heard her before in my life." He said shaking his head

"Don't fuck with me, shit head," I said shoving the gun to his head again. "Don't ever try to fuck with me. Do you know the Bride of Dracula?"

"Yes," he said with a trembling voice. "Yes, Mina Harker. The Lance of Dusk has been tracking her down for thirty years. Peter Craig is particularly fixed on her."

"Why?"

"240 years ago while Craig was still a young pureblood, his entire clan was wiped out by the humans. None survived but him. As years gone by Craig found out that the attack was ordered by Lord Dracula."

"What?"

"Lord Dracula and Craig's father were fierce rivals so the humans' fear and hatred of our race was essential to his plan of destroying The Seal of the Phoenix in which Craig's father was the clan's head. Craig lost his father, his mother, three brothers and two sisters in the attack. Craig tried to kill Dracula for years but with no success. He found out that Dracula was finally killed by the very humans he used against his family years earlier. And then Mina Harker came along. Craig was infuriated by the fact there was a woman with the traits of his sworn enemy."

"So Mina Harker isn't working for your old boss?"

"Never! Why would she?"

"A little bird told me that your former place of employment had a new member and that many vampire hunters never had any luck in killing this guy. Care to tell me what the name of Craig's new talent is?"

"You're crazy. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Spill it!"

"His name is Jamie Summers. He works hit and run for free."

"Okay. Do you anything else about Harker?"

"All I know is that she was first trained by this group called the Crimson Sun; nothing else."

"What about Craig? Where do I find him?"

"I don't know."

"Where does he live, goddamn it?!"

"He's mostly around the business areas in Los Angeles. You'll most likely find him in the apartment complex just west of here. I swear."

Suddenly I heard the twisting of the door behind me and then there was banging. There were men outside calling Hal and trying to break there way in. "Where can I find Harker?" I said frantically.

"I don't know," Hal said shaking his head.

"Tell me!" Suddenly I heard the door breaking behind me I turned around and saw two guys armed with Sig-Sauer Pro 2340 pistols and one with a Mac 10 breaking their way through the door. I rushed to the window and climbed out. I ended up on the balcony and frantically looked down and saw a parked car at the bottom. I climbed on the railing and jumped down. I landed on top of the car and then jumped off landed on the ground. As I started to run the three men appeared on the balcony and opened fire on me. I pulled off my mask and started to pick up pace as I heard the loud gunfire and the bullets hitting the ground behind me. I ran to the other side of the building where my bike was parked, jumped on, started the engines and sped off, barely escaping with my life.


	19. Chapter 19

_**After interrogating the former second in command of the Lance of Dusk, Hal Pollock, Anna Van Helsing barely escapes with her life during a brief shoot-out. She now sets out to find the group's leader Daniel Craig in hopes of finding any leads to Mina Harker.**_

**Chapter 19 **

Man that was too fucking close! Who the fuck this guy think he is anyway? Does a low life piece of shit like him really need armed protection? Well, if you really take one hard look at the guy you can't really blame him. Moving on, the info I have is that the reason for the existence of the Lance of Dusk is not the motivation of most vampire groups. World domination is not why Peter Craig is hell bent on wiping out the human race and killing Mina Harker. I never knew Count Dracula had rivals. I mean, not even the strongest vampire could hold a candle the lord of all vampires. Then again, Dracula wanted to keep it that way, I guess. Two days after that night I decided to set out to west L.A. to search for Craig. The fact that he could be living in this area didn't surprise me at all. West Los Angeles was a breeding ground for the rich and famous. I knew one apartment complex that was sure to be his home: Christina Avenue. I guess I'll pay him a little visit.

It took a thirty five minute bike ride for me to reach the large apartment area. The buildings are about fifty floors high and painted in this cream-like colour. I arrived in the area disguised as an electrician carrying the devices that served me well when it came to sticking my nose in private affairs. I walked through the entrance and found a huge stair case. Then it hit me. That guy Pollock didn't tell what room Craig was in. Shit! I started to walk up the stairs until I reached the second floor. The moment I stepped in the hallway I saw a rugged good looking man with brown eyes and balding grey hair; dressed in a dark grey business suit, white shirt and a black tie walking briskly in my direction carrying a briefcase. "Excuse me, sir," I said stopping him. "Do you know if there's anybody by the name of Peter Craig who lives here?"

"Yes," he said. "Why?"

"I'm an electrician. He called me to fix some lose wires in his apartment. I'm kinda having some problems finding it."

"You're an electrician? I didn't know there were female electricians."

"This is the land of equal opportunity. Anything's possible."

"Well, it's about two more floors up in room 412. You'll have to take the stairs."

"Thanks."

I climbed the stairs until I reached the fourth floor. Walking down a long hallway I looked to my left and to my right until I spotted the numbers 412 on a door that was in the middle of ten doors to my left. I walked up to the door and twisted the doorknob. The door was locked. I then reached into my toolbox and took out my lock pick and tension wrench and proceeded to unlock the door. All I had to do now was to go through the five second process. As I was approaching the last three seconds I suddenly heard footsteps on the stair case echoing down the hallway. I started to move frantically and the lock made a click. I then looked down the hallway and saw on top of the heads of what appeared to be a man and a woman growing higher and higher. Their faces came into view showing a man apparently in his early thirties and a woman who looked seven years younger. They were talking and laughing, apparently unaware of my presence. I quickly grabbed my toolbox, twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

I shut the door behind me and discovered a living room with a view of the L.A. skyline through large glass windows. There were two white couches and one large single chair in the middle of the room. There was huge flat screen TV on the left and a large CD player next to it and a DVD player on top of the CD player. I took a little tour and saw a large bed in the bedroom and the kitchen was a spotless red haven. I knew that the longer I stayed in this place the bigger chance there was of me getting in dog shit. I took out two bugs placed them behind the pots and pans. I then placed one bug in the bedroom. I was back in the living room and I stood there looking around with three bugs in my hand trying to decide which would be the best place to put them. After seven seconds I made my decision. I placed a bug under the CD player, one in an arrangement of flowers on the table and strapped one on one of the legs of the small glass table that laid between the chairs and the entertainment centre with duct tape. In a space of just six minutes I was done. I then grabbed my tool box and hurried out the door. The moment I stepped out the door I was met by a man walking my way. He was a man with jet black hair dressed in a navy blue business suit, a white shirt and crimson red tie. He stopped next to me and looked at me with suspicious blue eyes. I stood there frozen in fear, but for some reason or the other I was able to crack a nervous smile. He began walking away still keeping his eyes on me as he entered his room right across the hallway and locked the door behind him. I then started to walk away briskly down the hallway, down the stairs and eventually out of the apartment.

That night I returned to Christina Avenue looking to dig up somebody's personal shit. I parked my bike a few feet away, sat there, pulled out my amplifier, clicked it on and started listening to the following conversation.

SPEAKER 1: Who the fuck left the door open?

SPEAKER 2: You tell me. You were the last one to leave.

SPEAKER 1: I know for sure I locked it. I'm not crazy.

SPEAKER 2: Mr. Craig why don't we focus on the matter at hand? As far as I'm concerned the demise of Madame Mina Harker is a far more pressing issue.

Craig? Could this be the Peter Craig I was looking for?

CRAIG: Fine. First and foremost I would like to know how we'll move ahead in making sure Mina Harker no longer walks this earth again.

SPEAKER: Look, Peter, the reason why you have me around is not for a big pay check. You need me. Mina is the reason I am who I am. Do you really think I like to walk around getting seizures because of the thirst? Do you really think I celebrate that day June 5th 105 years ago when I first met her?

CRAIG: I'm very sorry to hear that, Conrad. But it's something you'd have to deal with one way or other. So does many humans who will eventually become our kind.

CONRAD: I'm not surprised you'd say that. You have no idea what it's like, to become a new creature against your will. After all, you didn't become what you are, you were born a vampire.

CRAIG: Maybe. But think about how your powers and skills advanced along with the years. No vampire hunter would ever believe that you weren't born a vampire hunter.

CONRAD: Well, you'll have to thank the famous Bride of Dracula. It pains me to remember that day. There I was, 21 years old, New Orleans, Louisiana. I was at this bar with some friends when I spotted her sitting by herself in the corner. All of my friends encouraged me to strike up a relationship with her. I, young and arrogant, high on vodka took their advice and walked over to a beauty that was out of sight. She seemed tensed and afraid when I introduced myself to her. She told me that she was from Liverpool, England and she was reeling from divorce she had three years earlier. I saw that as good opportunity to make her my latest lover. We began seeing each other constantly since then. One night I took her to a Mardi gras parade. There I noticed something absolutely out of the ordinary. There was section where paraders were all dressed in black costumes and wearing white fangs holding up the banner Children of Dracula. All of a sudden Mina got into a fit of rage and lounged at a female parader and started beating her head on the ground. I pulled Mina away; the female parader was left bleeding from the back of her head. I asked Mina what the hell's gotten into her. She paused for a minute like she herself was surprised at what she'd done. She told me she was a passionate Catholic and that seeing people act like children of Satan deeply offends her. The next night I invited her to my house where had dinner. I kept in mind not to serve her alcohol. There was another thing I noticed about that girl. She always seemed thirsty. It was in that condition she always sounded hoarse. She always carried a vial and drank from it. She never told me what it was. I asked her to spend the rest of the night with me. She refused at first but finally gave in when I insisted. We slept together in the same bed. I was awaken big a piercing pain in my neck; then it felt as if someone was trying to tear of the skin of neck. I woke up to find Mina spitting out of my neck with teeth like a cat. She chased me all over the house until I got trapped in the bathroom. It was there she told me she was a child of the devil and that she needed my blood. The last thing she told me was that she hoped that I would be able to forgive her.

CRAIG: Well, I'm sure you can't. No one can ever forgive anything that evolves from Dracula.

CONRAD: But if you really think about it, we wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for Lord Dracula. He is the reason why we're far more superior over the humans.

CRAIG: Yes. But he's also the reason why I've been hunting down that cunt for years. Even though Dracula's dead, there's never a day when I don't think about him. When I found out that Mina carries the blood of Dracula in her veins, it's like Dracula came back to life in the form of a young woman. Mina has no love in her and she kills without mercy. Three years ago she killed my daughter. My daughter! Don't talk about the humans. They're always discriminating. Dracula used the humans to destroy my father's clan. He was very smart in doing it though. He hid the very fact that he himself was a vampire.

CONRAD: Are you sure it was Mina who killed Heather?

CRAIG: What other vampire you know uses a katana sword?

CONRAD: I understand. I never knew that Mina and I would end up having so much in common. There was one individual who guided me in this life. He's just like you, born a vampire. But there's something about him you just can't ignore. His wisdom, his strength, his skills with every art known to man. The only one that rivals this man is Dracula himself. He taught me all the martial arts and all the skills with the blade.

CRAIG: But you mostly use guns.

CONRAD: What I know from that man serves me well when it comes to using guns. My precision is unlike any other. I have all to thank Todo Hotsumi. That man just happens to be three years younger than Dracula. I first met him when I was lost, doing nothing but searching for victims and trying my very best to stave off unwanted attention. I thought he was just another victim when I lounged at him. He suddenly grabbed me by the throat and threw me aside. I was stunned and amazed by his strength and I began to think when he asked me what good is it for a person who is not of this world to feel inferior to the weak race that is known as the humans? He promised to show me the way to tap into my hidden strength if I promised to join his league. It was an offer I could not ignore. His league is a 1000 strong force that often operates in splintered cells. When they perform hyper speed all you can hear is their force pushing against the air. Hotsumi trained and mentored me for twenty years. When it was over he gave me two choices: to continue being in his league or to move on and set my own path. I wasn't sure what choice to make so I asked him what the better choice was. He told me that for me to further enhance my skills I must walk the winding road on my own because with time I would soon find good use for all I've learned

CRAIG: Very interesting. I don't suppose you know where Hotsumi is now, do you?

CONRAD: No, I don't. Like I said before he moves in splintered cells with his force.

CRAIG: But how did Mina get into all this?

CONRAD: I didn't know at first. It was when I would met her again back in '68 she and I were on the save level in terms of our skills. I discovered that she trained under Hotsumi when I she used a style known as the Hidden Twisted Arrow. Hotsumi demonstrated this style only once, but no one in our squad was able to perfect it. No vampire alive, in my view, would ever perfect such a style. Mina and her katana is a force to be reckoned with. I'm the first one ever to see it. The Final Dawn is the reason I have this scar across my face.

CRAIG: What are you saying? If I were to put together a force of thirty of my best men, it would ultimately fail?

CONRAD: Exactly. You can never win against an unconventional enemy with a conventional force.

CRAIG: I cannot believe I hired you to give me nothing but pessimism.

CONRAD: That's not true. What about that group that Mina belong to, Crimson Sun? That group only calls itself that to hide the fact that they're a weak force compared to other groups. They don't deserve anyone's respect. You had three of its most senior leaders killed because of _my_ careful planning. That group's on virtual collapse because of what we've been doing for the past ten years. If we could get to 25 members we could eventually get Mina cornered. I've just got intelligence that three members are meeting at this fast food restaurant at West Hollywood tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. They are the ones who really keep track on their group's movements. All we have to do is when they're finished we corner them while their driving on the road: front, back, left and right. Then we shoot out the tires and snatch them away. There's no way it could fail.

CRAIG: I agree. I just want to get to Harker before the humans do.

I turned off the amplifier and drove off. Too bad I was only able to hear them; not see them. So, apparently this Conrad was Mina's first victim. Mina's vampire form wasn't fully developed; that's why she was only able to tear off the flesh of Conrad's neck in order to drink his blood. Listening to the conversation I could tell that Craig had absolutely no love for Dracula. I don't blame him if he wanted to destroy any remaining indications of Dracula's existence. I'd better get to this fast food joint before these guys do. These three guys could be the only source of information of Mina's whereabouts and current activities.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Anna Van Helsing discovers one of Mina Harker's victims while performing surveillance on the elusive Peter Craig. She also uncovers a plan to wipe out three members of a group Harker's allegedly affiliated with. Anna sets out to meet this group in hopes of hatching the Mina's activities. **_

**Chapter 20 **

I can't help but feel sorry for this guy named Conrad. Having pity for a vampire goes against everything I stand for. But when I think about it, how would I feel if I lost all of my humanity to some blood-sucking prick? Three days later, my life was consumed with rest, vampire killing with Danny and thoughts of my search for Mina Harker. For a vampire Todo Hotsumi sounds legendary. From all things I've been hearing about Mina, how she's quick with a sword, has agility, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I couldn't help but think that some of that stuff has got to start somewhere. Where and how exactly do I find this Todo Hotsumi? It's not like I could just round up every vampire of Japanese descent and ask them for his cell phone number. Anyway, I have to consider the mission ahead: finding those three guys from this group Crimson Sun. They're meeting at this fast food joint in West Hollywood. I knew just where that was. I would eat at this place occasionally: Popeye's.

At 9:15p.m. on a Wednesday night I rode on my bike to the small outpost where they served New Orleans style fries, chicken and seafood on the go. I walked inside wearing a black baseball cap, a brown sweat top and blue jeans and sat at a corner by myself near the registers. I didn't know what to expect when looking for these three guys. I didn't know if they already arrived or if they were on their way or they left already. I took out a small scope called the HE 45. Like the P9 goggles it's able to read the body heat of a crowd of people. I held the HE45 in my right hand and covered it with my left in order not to draw any unwanted attention. I looked around the small area of the restaurant only to read the red body heat of humans. Suddenly I spotted three men sitting at a table near the entrance. Their body heat read blue. I knew by that it meant they were vampires. I stayed there watching them yap. After a while I looked at my watch. I was sitting there for ten minutes but seemed as if those guys were talking for a whole hour. What the fuck could they possibly be talking about? And then I was thinking of a way of trying to corner one of them to beat out the truth about Mina Harker. I knew I just couldn't walk up to them just like that and grab one of them from behind and throw him in a corner without alerting the rest of them. I then saw one of them, a tall skinny one with curly red hair, getting up and heading to the men's bathroom. I then pulled out a silencer from my right pocket and my H&K USP pistol from the back of my pants. I hid both of them under the table and screwed on the silencer on the barrel on the gun. I then tucked the gun into the back of my pants and headed for the bathroom. On my way to the bathroom I was thinking, what the fuck am I doing? This is the men's bathroom! You're not a man! I then thought, well this is one opportunity I can't let go. That guy has gotta have some dirt on Mina.

I tucked my baseball cap over my eyes and pushed the door open. I shoved my hands into my pocket and walked in a manner trying to look like a guy. There were three in the bathroom; one at one of the urinals and two at the face basins. The one at the urinal zipped up his pants walked up behind one of the men at the face basin who then left soon after. They guy who was at the urinals, brown hair, wearing a red baseball looking like a kid from high school started to wash his hands. But there was no sign of tall, red and skinny. The kid with the baseball cap was the second one to exit the bathroom. Third was a chubby man wearing a brown business suit. As the men walked by I bowed my head hiding fact that I was a girl in the men's bathroom. I then heard the flush of a toilet bowl in a toilet that was next to the urinals. The door opened to reveal tall, red and skinny taking his place at the face basin. I walked up to the urinals and pretended to take a piss. I felt kind of embarrassed and I was hoping and praying that no one would discover that I was a girl in the men's bathroom. I looked over my left shoulder and saw tall red and skinny quickly washing his hands and face. I then pulled out a needle gun filled with serum X1 used to inject vampires, thus cramping their muscles and subduing their powers. I walked up to him slowly hiding the needle gun behind my back. All the while my I felt a bit shaky and extremely nervous. He was just starting to dry his hands at one of the blow dryers when he suddenly turned his head in my direction. I quickly stuck the needle gun in his neck and pulled the trigger.

The syringe was as small as your little finger, so all it takes is a small dose of X1 to bring a vampire to his knees. Tall, red and skinny dropped limp on the floor and started to breath with extra effort. He curled his body in the way a person having an epileptic seizure would. I picked him from under his arm pits and dragged him into one of the toilets. For a guy who was super skinny, man was he heavy! It took a lot of effort for me to put him on the toilet seat with the lid down. I seated him on the toilet bowl, held him by his curly hair and shoved my silencer mounted H&K USP to his forehead. "Are you the member of Crimson Sun?"

"Who… the fuck… are you?" he said haltingly.

"Are you the member of Crimson Sun?" I said cocking the gun. With that he nodded. "Is there somebody named Mina Harker in your group?"

"Who…?" He said.

"Mina Harker. Do you know Mina Harker?"

"Yeah… But she's not with us."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm telling you the truth"

"Don't lie to me! Is Mina Harker with your guys?

"No she ain't."

"Don't fucking lie to me!"

"I'm not lying, man! She's not with us. I think she's with Neo Rising."

"Who?"

"Neo Rising. Mina was never with was us. She was with that group going into a year now."

"Oooh. Looks somebody set you guys up, dude. Do you know anybody by the name of Peter Craig?"

"Who the fuck's Peter Craig?"

"Didn't think so. Do you know a Todo Hotsumi?"

"Todo Hotsumi? I think he's giving all the training for some of the best known vampire groups around. There's one called Dominion of Darkness. He's given them the best fighters around. Nobody can compete with them, man, except probably Todo Hotsumi.

"Where can I find Todo Hotsumi ?"

"…I …don't…know…"

"Quit your bullshitting. Where is Todo Hotsumi?"

"He's…in…this…castle he built in…this estate called…Destiny's Hand… in…Sacramento."

"You'd better not fucking with me, bitch!"

"I'm telling you the truth, man! He bought that estate thirty one years ago. He's got a huge following. That group Neo Rising, their leader, Alexandria Wolfe, she had her training there."

"Alexandria Wolfe? You mean Neo Rising's leader is a woman?"

"You'd better fucking believe it, man. I got no reason to lie to you. P…please d…don't h…hurt …me."

I calmly tucked my pistol in the back of my pants and released his hair leaving his hand to flop back. He then slowly raised his head and looked at me. The guy was still very weak. "Thanks a lot for your cooperation." I said. "There's something I have to tell you though. You see that guy Peter Craig? In about a few minutes he's got his right hand man and plenty of others coming to blast you and your pals to kingdom come. I strongly suggest that you go warn your buddies. That's unless of course you can walk. Soon you'll lose your ability to talk. You have about two hours before that shot you got finally wears off." I did a kind of trick before I left. I locked the door from the inside and climbed over the toilet. I landed on my feet and briskly walked out of the bathroom. I then walked out of the restaurant and hopped on my bike and drove off. I felt quite guilty of what I done, but I understood that when it comes to those pricks there's no mercy.


	21. Chapter 21

_**After a clever interrogation of a member of the group Crimson Sun, Anna Van Helsing learns that Mina Harker is not affiliated with the group. Anna also learns of the whereabouts of the famous Todo Hotsumi. She now sets out to California's capital Sacramento to pay an uninvited visit to Hotsumi's mysterious estate which will involve many twists, turns and shocking revelations. **_

**Chapter 21**

The wind is blowing through my hair at 40 miles per hour. I'm taking the highway en route to the capital of California, Sacramento. The intelligence I gathered picked up one name; Todo Hotsumi. Todo Hotsumi supposedly mentored The Bride of Dracula into what she is today. Maybe he could help me tap into Mina Harker's weaknesses. To accept help from a vampire is to show absolute disloyalty to the human race. Not accepting the enemy's help in this particular case would eradicate the human race as far as I was concerned. I thought it was all up to me to put an end to the threat of Dracula's one and true replica once and for all. It takes me about three hours to get to a place where I had a hunch Todo Hotsumi would likely be. Sacramento Valley was known for its abundance of green lands and what was known as the smallest mountain range in the world. This place has a lot of forest and nobody would ever think about living here. This estate of Hotsumi's has got to be here.

I finally make it to the mountain with a long track that laid in the middle of the forest. I thought going further on the bike would be rough so I decided to go on foot rolling the bike along side with me. It was late in the afternoon which brought on the winds. The leaves both dead on the forest floor and alive on the trees made a beautiful sound every time the breeze blew. The forest was so dense I wondered how I the fuck I would find this guy in this shit hole. I kept pushing for about thirty minutes until I saw what apparently was the exterior of a three storey manor about fifty feet away from me. The estate was supposedly built thirty one years prior but it didn't have the aspects of the modern day architecture of that time. The walls were made of old European stone and the windows were crafted in beautiful Victorian matter. Whoever lives in this house sure digs the time of my great-great-great grandfather Abe Van Helsing. I decided to hide my bike in some bushes and take a run to the wooden doors. I stopped at the doors and slowly walked up close. I looked at it with awe at the Victorian craft. I then stretched out my hand onto the door and touched it gently. Suddenly the door slowly swung open. I was shocked. Surely a smart person who was really concerned about his security would never leave the front door open. I slowly crept inside and closed the door behind me.

Inside the room was very dark. Surely the afternoon light shone brightly, but not enough to give you the impression that it was 2:00 p.m. I walked slowly and pulled out my hand gun and cocked it. I looked around cautiously pointing my gun straight ahead and turning my body in the direction I moved the gun. Suddenly I was startled by the faint dragging of feet coming from my left. I swung my body in the direction of the sound and saw nothing. I heard it again coming from over my shoulder. I pointed my gun up to the concrete ceiling again seeing nothing. I have to remember, these mothrerfuckers could scale walls. I turned my direction ahead to a large staircase. I approached the staircase and looked up the staircase. The moment I proceeded to walk up I heard the strange sound again, this time it came from my right. I spun quickly to the direction of the sound and saw nothing. It was beginning to get fucking annoying. Suddenly I felt a sharp blow in my back which set me flying across the room. It felt like I got hit by a sledge hammer. I was now lying on the floor on my stomach in pain.

I turned on my back and looked up. Nobody was there. Then who the fuck tried to fuck me up? I slowly began to get up. I started to reach for my gun that was lying next to me. It was suddenly kicked away from me and before I could look up to see who was responsible I was given an uppercut which sent me flying across the room. I landed on my back in pain and when I looked up I saw a figure in all black coming down on me with what appeared to a sword clutched in both of his hands. I got up and moved out of the way just in time. I rolled across the floor and got and suddenly engaged in combat with the figure in black. The figure who had the build of a man wearing a full face black mask, wearing black combat boots and black gloves kept swinging a five inch katana sword at me. He was moving so fast I had difficulty evading his every move. All I could do was duck his sword. There was a moment where he made a move to chop off my head. I ducked in time and kicked him in the abdomen. The kick made him stagger back and I started to run. Suddenly another figure in black armed with a sword dropped in front and started to throw kicks at me. By the figure's grunting I could tell it was a woman. Her kicks struck me in the face and in the stomach and she threw one more kick in my abdomen that sent me rolling across the floor. I landed on my back and open my eyes. The moment I opened my eyes I saw the blade of another sword dropping down at high speed aiming right for my face. I rolled away and the sword went right through the floor. I got up to see another male-shaped black figure brandishing a sword. I felt a kick on my left shoulder which sent me staggering to the floor. I got up to see four black figures in all who appeared to be two males and two females. I heard a yell behind me as if there was a man charging for me. I stepped out of the way quickly and saw another figure in black driving his sword into my place. He then charged for me and started swinging his sword at me. I started to run away but these guys jumping in my way in a single bound. I found myself evading five swords. In all the confusion I saw my gun a few feet away from me. I rolled across the floor and grabbed the fully loaded H&K USP and started firing in the direction of one of the figures in black. To my astonishment, every time I fired a bullet he would block everyone with his sword. Instead of hitting him the bullets would hit the sword. I ran a few feet, turned around and fired again. Four of the black figures jumped out of the way and one figure, a woman, blocked all the bullets with her sword. Suddenly, CLICK. Shit! I was out of bullets. I felt a sharp blow behind my back and fell flat on my stomach. I turned on my back and was looking at the blades of five swords. I then heard faint footsteps coming from my left. I turned my head and saw about ten figures in black armed with the same sword running towards my direction. I looked up and saw ten more black figures jumping from the windows. I heart dropped. This was surely the end for me.

About a minute had passed and I realised that the black figures were still in the same defensive position. I began to wonder why they were hesitant to kill me. I then heard footsteps slowly coming in my direction. I looked up and saw a man of Japanese descent dressed in dark grey suit, white shirt and a black trench coat. He stood over 6ft 3 inches tall with yellow eyes and was fairly handsome. I knew for sure he was a vampire. He walked slowly between the sea of black and silver swords. The figures who were pointing there swords in my face moved them away as the man stopped next to me. He stood there just looking at me with stern yellow eyes as if he was examining a rare specimen. He then turned to the figures in black and said something in Japanese that I can't translate. Two figures then grabbed me by the shoulders, bounded my hands and placed a black hood over my head.

Minutes probably passed when I felt my feet moving and both my arms being squeezed tightly. I then felt being thrown unto something soft. The hood was then pulled from over my head and I found myself with my hands still bound behind my back sitting on a chair with the Japanese man seated with his legs crossed in front of me. He seemed rather calm and discreet despite the fact that came on his property uninvited. His calm made me very wary because I knew that deep shit would follow that calm look. "You're a Van Helsing, are you not?" he said in surprisingly fluent English.

"You know who I am?" I said.

"By the scent of your blood I knew you were no ordinary human. I came across a Van Helsing no more than ninety years ago. His name was Alexander I believe."

"Yeah…Alexander Van Helsing was one of my ancestors."

"Alexander Van Helsing pursued me for two years until we finally met each other face to face. He was ultimately unsuccessful in finally killing me, but I respected him greatly for his efforts. I never thought I would ever meet one of descendants. I could feel your could feel the fear all over you. I know you didn't come here to kill me."

"…That's correct… I'm looking for a vampire… called… the Bride… of Dracula."

"Ah, Mina Harker. None has ever been successful in killing her and none ever will. Why would you engage in such a foolish task?"

"Well.., for one thing…she killed two of my comrades. She's been stirring up a lot of trouble lately and she… has a huge following."

"You search for Mina in the name of revenge. That was the key to Alexander's defeat."

"What're you talking about?"

"I believe he had a lover who was taken by a member of our race."

"Yeah I know all that…"

"But what you don't know is that once a human's intention is to kill for revenge it continues a cycle that would last to all eternity that will lead to his end."

"What the hell do you know about it?"

"I discovered this in Mina Harker. Yes, she carried the spirit of the vampire, but it was her human side that ultimately imprisoned her."

"I don't understand."

"I came across her 95 years ago when she was feeding upon the homeless in her former home of Great Britain. I offered her a chance to join me and my followers to engage in a journey that would make her powerful anyone's imagination. I guided her to Osaka, Japan were she became a member of my student body. She was trained in the various martial arts where she grasped unto what would be her passion; the samurai sword. Her skill with katana surpassed other students. I was so impressed with that I awarded her with a blade of her very own, The Final Dawn."

"I wanna know something about sword, because the intelligence I've getting is that The Final Dawn is no ordinary sword."

"Precisely. I am the one who carefully forged Final Dawn into the weapon feared by humans and vampires alike. I inherited my talent of forging swords from my father who was a blacksmith and a shogun who crafted swords for many vampire warriors around the world. The Final Dawn took ten years to forge and finally craft into perfection. It was plated four times the strength of titanium making it difficult to bend or break cutting through anything it sets its sights on. When I gave it to her she had one request: to have an engraving of Psalm 23 on the blade in Latin. This engraving with the word of the god of the human race had isolated her from me and her fellow pupils. We could not believe there was a member of our race who still worshiped the human god. Her fellow pupils considered her inferior; one in particular was Alexandria Wolfe. Alexandria was one of my first students and Mina's skills and her love for the Christian god had created a fierce rivalry and entity between the both of them. Psalm 23 is the weapon that finally kills a member of the vampire race. That is why it is faired by the vampires more than the humans.

Mina's skills in the art of Kenjutsu served her well when I made her a member of the Hallow Dragon, a military force secretly created by the empire of Japan during the Second World War. After the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima the war came to a close, but Hallow Dragon continued to fight the American occupation. It was during this time Mina Harker became disengaged and wanted nothing to do with us. Mina became aggressive and started to kill fellow members. Alexandria lost her right arm in the slaughter. I finally engaged with Mina and tried to reason with her. She said she was tired of slaughtering the humans whom she considered her people. I told her they were not her people and if she tried to go back she would bring nothing but pain and suffering upon herself. We were suddenly engaged in bitter combat. I was defeated left with a dreaded mark." He started to unbutton his shirt and slowly began to reveal a very deep ghastly scar that ran from the upper left of his chest down the lower right of his abdomen. "Since then she was never heard from or seen until twenty years ago when she killed one of my top lieutenants," he continued, buttoning back his white shirt. "We were unsuccessful after many attempts until I encountered her once again two years ago. She seemed stronger and more determined than before. However I sensed doubt and uncertainty within her. She told me that I was right to some extent that the fact that Dracula's blood has brought more burdens that she could bear. I told her that I once knew Dracula and that I know what calmed him and troubled him."

"You knew Dracula?"

"Yes. I was one of Dracula's first followers. He had taught me all the ways of the vampire and I was his closest associate. Dracula's goal for wiping out the human race was not only for the supremacy of the fear vampire but for a great fear of the human race. He had told me that he once saw the vampire as far more powerful than man, but he would soon realise that we was at war with an adversary that was far more intelligent than he would ever imagine. Yes, even Lord Dracula had great fear. Fear that, from my perspective led to his death. I told Mina that with my experience I could help her to go on the right path into knowing who she is and what her purpose in her eternal life meant. She seemed to consider that I was right but she said that there was one person was capable in showing her path I was offering. God. I balked at her remark saying her chose was fruitless that it would take her all eternity for her god to truly reveal his path to a vampire. Her simple reply was "So be it."

I was amazed by his story. This guy was really inspirational to some degree. But I still had some questions. "You really don't think I should be tracking her down?" I said.

"You're a Van Helisng. I would expect no less from a descendant of Alexander Van Helsing. I've heard many stories about your family. You are breed of vampire killers that will continue to exist longer than time itself. You have intelligence that is far superior than the average human. Do you not realise that many in the vampire race fear your name?"

"I'm flattered. But how do you think I can kill something that carries Count Dracula's blood?"

"Child, Dracula is a name that has carried great respect through the generations. What you don't know that he had a great fear of the human race; a fear that ran through his veins. Mina Harker carries the skills off Kung Fu, Jiujutsu, Tae kwon do and Kenjutsu; but her human side and the animal within her carries a fear that is beyond comprehension. Tap within that fear and you will break your enemy."

"Where can I find Alexandria Wolfe?"

"She leads the Supreme Legion just west of here within the city. I give you this as a means of gathering more information. We are still very close so it should not be very difficult for you." He placed a flash card on my lap. I looked at the flash card and him with amazement. A vampire would never give away what he considered vital information. Then again, he probably wasn't like other vampires. "Uh…thanks," I said. I paused and then finally said. "You didn't tell me who were."

"Child, I am Todo Hotsumi," he said. With those words the black hood came over my head again.

I suddenly felt both of my hands free and both of my feet off the ground. There was the sound of leaves rustling and the breeze blowing through my hair. I immediately knew I was outside. I suddenly felt as if I was falling and I landed on the ground in pain. The black hood was pulled off form over my head and I found myself were I was before: a few feet away from the house. I was baffled and amazed I didn't know what to make of the encounter. It was if it was a dream; none of it seemed real. So that was the famous Todo Hotsumi, huh? Just by listening to that guy I knew that Mina Harker learned from the best. His words were so seductive and he seemed to have a kind of wisdom that the moment you listened to him you just can't ignore him. He was almost like Dr. Martin Luther King jr. I shove my hands into my pocket when I walked over to my bike when I felt something small in my pocket. I pulled it out and found the flash card that Todo Hotsumi gave me. Still baffled I placed it back in my pocket and started to roll away my bike back to the highway.


	22. Chapter 22

_**After an extraordinary meeting with Todo Hotsumi, Anna Van Helsing is released with a flash drive containing supposedly vital information on Hotsumi's former pupil Alexandria Wolfe. Anna sets out to examine the contents of the flash drive where she would discover the one place Mina sets foot on where no vampire would dare enter. **_

**Chapter 22 **

That was unbelievable. Just un-fucking-believable! Todo Hotsumi apparently knows what he's talking about. His words, the way he talks. Man! That guy has got to pass on some smarts to Mina. I just wish he showed me some moves. Why was he so quick to give this flash drive? Surely he understands the consequences of giving up his private shit. I arrived in my apartment that night and hurriedly grabbed my laptop to see what kind of info Hotsumi's flash drive had. I placed it into the drive and clicked on the mouse to open the files. It opened and revealed lists of names and groups. I started to look up on anything it had on Alexandria Wolfe. Alexandria Wolfe was revealed to be the leader of the group Crimson Sun. Crimson Sun was around for forty five years with about 150 members that operated in splintered cells. Wolfe was also revealed to be skilled at Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do. If this lady's got one arm how could she possibly be that good? Surprisingly I came across what appeared to be an online memorandum which was apparently given for Hotsumi's pupils. It revealed the last whereabouts of Mina Harker: Holy Rosary Cathedral. Mina Harker goes to church? No way! Vampires can't set foot in anyplace they consider too powerful against them. This is just too weird. I needed to look into that later. I had to move on to the whereabouts of Alexandria Wolfe. I kept googling until I came across an address that possibly belonged to Wolfe: 44th Malibu near Malibu Beach. To go here I had to be extra careful. This time I carried a fully loaded H&K MP5K submachine gun with five loaded clips.

It was 9:15p.m. when I arrived at the long line of ocean view houses after a forty-five minute ride. The flash drive revealed that Wolfe's house was the twelfth of about twenty five houses in that area. I crept around the back of the twelfth house, picked a glass sliding door unlock and sneaked inside. I pulled out my H&K MP5K, cocked and started to move stealthily around the room. About five minutes had passed when I suddenly heard KA-CHAK. I immediately identified it as a shotgun. I felt the cold barrel press against the back of my head and I heard the voice of a woman saying "Drop it". I reluctantly complied and put my hands up. I heard the woman kicked the submachine across the room which made a bang as it hit the wall. I turned my head slightly to my left and tried to spot the woman with the corner of my eye who was standing right behind me. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she said.

"I'm looking for Alexandria Wolfe," I said softly.

"Why?"

"I need some information on Mina Harker."

"Really? What makes you think you'll find that kind of information in my house?" I paused for a second and said "I had a source that told me I could find her here."

"Who said that you could find Alexandria Wolfe here?"

"…Todo…Hotsumi…" There was absolute silence for about ten seconds until the woman finally said "Turn around." My heart sank with those words. I thought that in the next three seconds I would be dead before I could catch a glimpse of that lady. I turned around slowly and my eyes caught the sight of a woman, tall with yellow animal like eyes, dressed in a white T-shirt and black pants, short brown hair armed with a twelve gauge shotgun. I took a hard look at her right arm. It had a look that was very peculiar. Something just didn't seem right about that arm. "Who are you working for?" she asked.

"Nobody," I replied.

"Who are you?"

"I'm looking for Mina Harker."

"You told me that already. What's your name?" I had to think fast. I couldn't let her know I was a Van Helsing; that could mean deep shit. "Bridget Murdoch," I said.

"So you've got the Bride of Dracula in your sights, huh?" she said. "You've got more balls than brains,_ Bridget_. You've got any idea what you're getting yourself into?"

"Of course I do," I said. "I've been taking down shit like her for two years."

"Really? You're a vampire hunter, are you?"

"…Yes."

Her already stern face turned menacing. She straightened the gun in my face and in a split second I saw her slightly squeezing the trigger. "Wait! Wait!" I shouted with my heart in my throat. "I wanna help you kill Mina Harker." She paused as if I made her an offer she couldn't refuse. "What does Mina Harker has to do with me?" she said.

"I know she's been a pain in the ass for people like you for a long time," I said. "I can't imagine what it's like to lose an arm."

Suddenly the look on her face changed from menacing to humble. She seemed shocked by the fact that I took note of one aspect of her body. "Sit down," she said calmly and warmly with her gun still aimed at me. I looked at two chairs that were facing each other in the middle of the living room. I then looked at the woman. She motioned me to the chairs with her gun. I slowly and reluctantly walked over to the chairs. I sat down slowly with my hands still in the air. "Put your hands down," the woman said. I reluctantly complied and placed my hands on my lap. "You're looking for Alexandria Wolfe, yes?" the woman said. I nodded my head. "You've just found her," Alexandria crossed her legs and placed her gun on her lap. "Tell me all what you know about Mina, Bridget," she said. I paused took a deep breath and said "Not much. All I know is that she doesn't seem to be pure blood. The blood of Count Dracula's been flowing through her veins for quite some time now. I also found out that she attends The Holy Rosary Cathedral." Alexandria scoffed and shook her head in disgust. "I also found out that she was a member of Todo Hotsumi's group just like you," I said.

"That's right," Alexandria said. "Todo Hotsumi recruited Mina Harker just weeks after he recruited me. I could tell you the moment I met her I knew she was something beyond her good looks and her current nature. She learned the arts very quickly mastering the art of Kenjutsu, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu and Ninjutsu along with its 18 disciplines. Nobody could've taken that away from her. Along the way I would find out that Mina carries the blood of Count Dracula. This came to light when she joined up with me and ten others fighting a group of vampire hunters. Dracula's invulnerability to all the vampire hunting killing methods was obviously present that night. No vampire hunter could kill her. We were all ready to accept her as a formidable alley but it was until she was given the Final Dawn we would learn that she was nothing like us. Does she honestly think putting a scripture from the bible on that sword of hers will make her closer to God or something? Why can't she fucking accept the fact that the Christian world would never accept people like us? Why she can't understand that moment she became a vampire her God wouldn't care about her anymore? She's just wasting her time with all bullshit. Another thing, she still cares about people like you. I could remember a time when we were fighting the American led occupation of Japan when we came across this one soldier. She was just staring at him. I thought she was gonna drink his blood but then she let that son of a bitch go. Then it happened. One day she said she was through with Hotsumi, with us and with the vampire race. I tried to make her think twice, but then the whole conversation started into a fight. Mina poured all what she learned on me. That's how I ended up like this."

She folded up the right sleeve of her T-shirt and gradually started to pull off what appeared to be a robotic artificial arm. The U.S. military was experimenting with these things to treat soldiers coming home with severe wounds from Iraq. I was surprised that she had something this. I guess when you're a vampire anything's possible. She yanked it off and held it with her left hand with a vicious look on her face. Her real right arm was completely gone. At the end of her right shoulder was dark brown as if it was a third degree burn "She took it clean off. Shit like this can't be healed. Mina and that fucker is an army of one," she said fixing back the arm on. "That was the last time I ever saw that bitch. She left making sure she gave me a memory to cherish."

"Where do think she is now?" I asked in a soft tone.

"Who gives a flying fuck?" she said turning to me. "As far as I'm concerned she's probably dealing with shit like you."

"You're wrong. I lost two comrades of mine the other day."

"…Well, ain't that a bitch? She's not on anybody's side. I'm not at all surprised. She's probably walking around with her fucking legs open. Fucking around with that shit she calls salvation. If you know what's good for you, you'd better stay out of that bitch's way."

"Can you at least give me a tip?" Alexandria sighed and looked up to the ceiling. She then looked at me. "I usually meet up with these guys in the sewers," she said. "They called themselves Sigma 12. If you ask me it's just a stupid name for such a fucked up group. They're all a bunch of fucking losers. I'm sure they're always ready give up any kind of info on Mina."

"What exactly is the Final dawn made of?"

"Dunno. Hotsumi was the one who made it. You should've asked him. The Final Dawn was made for Mina alone. Nobody got near to it. Mina is probably the only one who knows all about it."

"You don't know if Mina has any weakness at all?"

"Even if I knew, do you really thing she'd be shitting all over us right now?"

"…Guess not."

"You'll find Sigma 12 in the sewers back in East L.A. It shouldn't be hard. Check for manhole 65. You can't miss it. But make sure you find the leader; his name is Dean Hoyt."

I looked around the room, and then I looked at her. She just stared at me. It appeared that she told me everything she knew. "Will you let me go now?" I said.

"Oh, I'll let you go alright," she said. "One problem though, Bridget: I haven't gotten a drink for three days straight. Let's just say you came to the right place and the right time." With those words she lounged right at me bearing her white fangs. She collided into me which made both of us tumble over my chair. I threw her off and then she landed on her feet. She charged right at me and in a split second I grabbed her prosthetic arm and ripped it off. From there we both engaged in unarmed combat. I first thought since she had only one arm I could really kick some ass. Suddenly she began throwing kicks at me at high speed. It was virtually impossible to block all of them. She threw kicks to my abdomen, one to my shoulders and one to my head that grazed my forehead. She then swung the tip of her boot into my cheek that brought me to the ground. I started spit blood and I felt pain all over my body. I got up but she then swept me off the ground with her foot. I fell down again and in a moment's glance I saw her raise her right leg straight up. She was about to give me an axe kick. I rolled away just in time before she brought her foot down. I then moved to sweep her off the ground with my foot. Suddenly she flipped and landed on her feet and started to throw more kicks and me. I managed to block all of them. Suddenly she kicked me kicked me behind my right leg which brought to my knee and she threw a punch with her left fist. I was now down flat on the floor and as I turned to look at her she kicked me at my side which sent me flying across the room. I slammed against the wall and curled myself into a ball like a scared animal. The pain was just unbearable. I saw her walking slowly towards me. I held onto the wall and slowly began to get up. As Wolfe approached me I started to throw everything I had on her. I used combinations of my skills in Karate and Tae Kwon do throwing kicks and punches with all my strength. All my attacks were hitting her in all the supposed weak areas. Ironically none of them seemed to have any effect.

I threw one punch to her face; suddenly she caught it with her left hand and kicked me in the abdomen. I rolled across the floor and stopped on my stomach. I looked up and saw the H&K MP 5K submachine gun lying across the room. I got up and ran towards it picked it up. I spun around and fired at Wolfe. The moment I pulled the trigger she jumped up, dodging the bullets and flew to the ceiling. I fired at her, but she jumped out of the way to the other corner. Every time I fired shots and her she would jumped out of the way. I reached into my jacket to load a new clip. At that moment I felt a sharp sting in my right forearm. I screamed in pain and found a knife sticking in my forearm with the blade right in. I dropped the gun and then she jumped down and gave me a straight kick to the chest. I flew across the room and landed flat on my back. I got up and pulled the knife out of my forearm. I grunted in pain as I pulled it out. I then charged Wolfe and collided into her which made both of us stagger into the kitchen. I started punching her continuously in the abdomen at close range against the fridge. I could feel the cold from her body as I threw one punch after the other. Wolfe grabbed me from behind my head, brought down my head and kneed me in the face. The blow broke my nose and made me bleed profusely from the mouth. She then kicked me again in the abdomen. I staggered back against one of the counters. A large kitchen knife caught my eye. I grabbed it and started to swing it at Wolfe like crazy. I managed to slice into her T-shirt and cut her across the face. The long facial scar started to heal in a split second. I totally forgot: it's not silver nitrate. I lounged at her again with the knife. Suddenly she grabbed my right arm with her left hand with a tight grip and started to slowly turn the knife to my face. I held unto her arm with my other hand trying to stop her advance. We both staggered against a counter in which I was now lying flat on the counter and Wolfe was lying on me trying to bring the knife down to my face. Stopping her from doing this was like trying to stop ten guys who were over 6ft tall and weighing 300 pounds each. The blade slowly approached my face and in a split second I looked down and saw a steel stool at the side of the counter. I began to reach for the stool at the same time the blade started to reach for my right eye. I fingered the stool and my left hand finally caught it. I swung it into her face and causing her to roll over and land flat on the floor.

I got up from the counter to engage with her as she was on the floor. As soon as I landed on the floor she kicked me in the abdomen. The kicked made me sent me staggering across the other side of the kitchen. Wolfe then got up and approached me, grabbed me by the hair and started crashing my head into the glass doors of the cabinets. Five glass doors! She then threw me on the floor and I started to bleed profusely from my head. Wolfe reached with her left hand for me and grabbed my by my clothes. She started to lift me up with her one hand. Both of my legs were off the ground as she effortlessly lifted me horizontally over her head. She held me like that for about seven seconds and threw me across the kitchen and onto a small kitchen table. I crashed down on the table and laid there motionless and in pain. I rolled to my right with my eyes squeezed tight. I was in intense pain. In all this I was able to see in my blurred vision Wolfe ripping the stove away from the wall. The fresh scent of gas burned my nose. I opened my eyes wide and saw Wolfe calmly going into a cabinet, taking a tall bottle of Champaign, breaking off the seal and drinking form it. She then threw it on the ground breaking it. She reached inside the cabinet again taking three more bottles of Champaign, throwing them all over the kitchen. By the smell of the wine I could tell it contained 40 of alcohol. Wolfe then reached into her pocket, pulled out a cigarette lighter, lit and threw it away. The kitchen lit up in flames startling me to my feet. In the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Wolfe jumping throw a window over the kitchen sink, escaping the blaze. I got up holding my right arm watching in horror as the fire started to engulf the kitchen. Then it hit me: the gas! The place is gonna fucking blow! I ran towards the back door, pulled it open and ran out. The moment I ran out the kitchen exploded behind me sending me flying across the yard. The explosion was huge. The noise was deafening, louder than thunder and the heat was probably over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I landed on my stomach and laid there for about sixteen seconds I turned on my back and saw half of the house engulfed in flames. "Motherfucker," I thought. I ran to the front and I could see the flames approaching the living room. I saw my bike on the right. I ran towards it, hopped on, started the engines and sped away. The only thing I thought about at that moment was getting the fuck outta there.


	23. Chapter 23

_**After experiencing a near-death encounter with Alexandria Wolfe, the vicious former pupil of Todo Hotsumi, Anna Van Helsing sets descends on the Holy Rosary Cathedral where she interviews an unlikely vampire ally.**_

**Chapter 23 **

SHIT! I can't believe I got set up like that! THAT BITCH! Why the fuck I didn't carry any silver nitrate? FUCK! That night I took off my jacket and wrapped the knife wound in my arm. I visited a friend that night to help me get it patched up. David Lynn was another ally who linked up with me and Danny in vampire killing. He was also good and fixing up injuries no matter how fucked up they were. While he stitched me up he asked me how it happed. I told him I "fucked up in target practising." He found it hard to believe but he accepted my excuse. I had no choice but to lie to him because he and Danny were very close and I didn't wanted to have a snitch on my grill. After having my wound sewn up I headed back to my apartment to take a little snooze. But an hour would pass and I wouldn't get any sleep. Then an hour turned into two hours, then three hours and then four hours. Even before that night, weeks before, it was getting hard for me to get any sleep. The week before I visited a fellow vampire hunter named Casey Hummel, who was also a doctor, who diagnosed me with an acute case of Insomnia. Well, just my fucking luck. He gave me pills to help me sleep. But I've been taking them barely if anytime at all. I don't trust drugs, illegal as well as prescription. As I laid in bed I start to think about where this investigation has led me. At the same time I was really scared of the possible forces that were probably after me at that moment. I think about the fact that I've probably gave away myself too many times. The vampires probably had me on surveillance. Shit, they probably had Danny, all my relatives and comrades under surveillance. If that was the case those blood sucking motherfuckers were probably waiting to blow their enemies' brains out in bed. If that happens I'd never forgive myself. It was thoughts like these kept my eyes wide open at night. And I thought but what about Lex and Al? How many comrades of mine are gonna die on my watch because of Mina Harker? Why's a bitch like her going to church for? I'll gonna try my best to get some sleep so I could pay somebody a little visit.

The following night I downloaded info of that church Mina attends. The church was run by Father Curt Arnold, Holy Rosary's priest. This guy's oughta be ashamed of himself. If Mina's been confessing to him for so long and didn't have a drink of his blood then God's really protecting him. But how can a vampire come in full contact with something that people depended on for years to keep it at bay? To find the answer to this burning question I had to have a little one on one with Father Arnold. I hopped on my bike and rode down to the church that's been around for 105 years. When I got there it appeared that services were still going on. The very site kinda made me embarrassed to be there. I was a person who never really prayed to God or went to church. My dad raised Danny and I in the Catholic faith telling us that faith in God was very important to make it through the harsh world we were living in. Dad could never be more right. Whenever I make it out alive in a mission I would say thank God for saying "Thank God" sake. I never really gave a long hard thought about having a close relationship. And many times I would think it was pure luck that I was alive. Not knowing that it could be God Himself that was keeping me alive. Another thing I wasn't sure if I was destined for Heaven or Hell. I have a really dirty mouth; I can't help it sometimes. I almost never read The Bible. I often resort to dishonesty, but most of the times, as far as I'm concerned, it's for a good cause. I didn't know if I was on God's side because of my hardened personality and my killings. I figured that God wanted somebody with lots of compassion and love; a punk, so to speak. It didn't really matter to me if I was going to Heaven or Hell. Heaven and Hell is on earth. I carried no guns this time, no stakes, nothing. I decided to wait until services were over to interview Father Arnold. It took about thirty minutes for the services to be over. People started to walk out. Some were crossing themselves; others were just carrying on conversations. I decided that this was my chance. I took a deep breath and walked into the church. I felt I didn't belong in this place. There was a huge crucifix above the altar with a statue of the crucified Christ on the crucifix. The sight made me almost break down in tears. I haven't been a good girl lately and I felt that I was spitting in Jesus' face. I crossed myself and walked towards the altar. Once I stood there I thought I should say a little prayer. I really didn't want to do it but I thought should do it for Dad's sake. He would've wanted nothing less. I kneeled down and clasped my hands together. I asked for forgiveness for any bad thing I've done and for help not to do them again. I asked God to mend my broken ways and Danny's and all my comrades'. I asked Him for strength for doing the things I did when it came to killing vampires and to help me to find Mina. Through all this a priest happened to overhear my prayer. "It seems that you really need God in your life, young lady," said the grey-haired, blue-eyed priest. "I guess," I said as I stood up. "Um…I'm looking for Father Curt Arnold."

"I'm Curt Arnold," said the priest.

"Uh…nice to meet you," I said shaking his hand slowly. "Uh…Father, I need to talk to you about something really serious."

"Well confessions are not on until tomorrow evening," he said.

"No, I'm not here to confess. I don't even go to this church. I wanna talk to you about somebody named Mina Harker."

The look of love and compassion on his face suddenly changed to a stunned look. He looked around the church and then looked at me. "How did you know about her?" he asked.

"I had her under surveillance," I said. "Father, she killed two of my comrades." Father Arnold looked around again. "Have a seat," he said. I sat on the seat in front of the altar and Father Arnold joined me soon after. "Who are you?" he said.

"Is it really important for me to tell you, Father?" I said.

"Yes it is," he said. I breathed a heavy sigh and said "I really can't tell you, Father. I already put my brother and many close friends in danger. I myself feel that there's a death warrant out for me right now. I hope you understand that."

"I understand," he said with a nod and a sweet voice.

I felt kinda embarrassed looking into his face. After all, he was a priest. "Father…" I said "Mina Harker's been circling around for some time now. From all the intelligence I've gathered, I've found out that she's unlike any other vampire." Father Arnold crossed himself the moment I said the word "vampire". It was as if I cursed or prayed to the devil. "Mina's been trained by another vampire named Todo Hotsumi," I continued. "He passed on some bad stuff on Mina. I honestly think she's gonna use those skills of hers for something bad. But then I heard that she prays to God. She has a verse from one of the Psalms on her sword. But I find it very hard to believe that she could carry the blood of Count Dracula in her veins and still worship God, Father." Father Arnold crossed himself again when I said "Count Dracula". "I really don't know what to make of all this, Father," I continued. "I don't think Mina's intentions are good and I think she's stabbing you in the back. Maybe she's gearing up for some plan to dominate the world or something. I've also learned that there are people who worship her like a god. With all due respect Father, I honestly think you should be ashamed of yourself dealing with thrash like Mina. Excuse my French."

"First of all, young lady, I'm not ashamed of anything," said Father Arnold. "I don't know what intelligence you may have gathered, but when I listen to Mina I hear the voice of a broken child. I don't see an arrogant, power-hungry monster. Mina is a very distressed individual. She may have all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of the vampire, but I assure you she has the meekness of a mere human." I was stunned hear all that coming from a Catholic priest. Either this guy's on drugs or he's blinded by his faith. All my life I've known blood suckers as these cold-blooded murders. Why would a guy like stick up for her? "Father, if that's true my two comrades would still be alive today," I said in a firm voice.

"I understand. She told me all that," said Father Arnold. "She told me that over the years she'd kill vampire hunters who would stalk her and try to kill her. Don't get me wrong. I don't approve of her killing humans, let alone vampire hunters or anyone for that matter. I'm not all defending her actions but I am convinced that in her nature she cannot control her impulses. I could hear it in her voice and I could see it in her eyes. Every night she would confess to me and it would break my heart whenever she tells me that she killed another human or another vampire hunter. She would constantly tell me that she wants to stop and how she wishes that she was human again. You must understand, when you become a new creation your mind dashes all of the traits of what you were before. It's like accepting Christ in your heart only different. You can choose whether or not you want to follow Christ, but in Mina's case she basically has no choice but to give in to the monster inside."

I sighed and said. "How long you've known Mina?"

"For thirty-six years," said Father Arnold. "She came to me when I was a young priest. I didn't know vampires existed until I met Mina. I was very afraid when I first made contact with her, but she presented herself in a way that was not threatening at all. Then I noticed her sword. It had the verse "Yea, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me," in Latin. She told me that she needed my help in driving out the beast in her. I told her that I didn't have the ability to exorcise any demons. She told me that she didn't have any demons, she _was_ a demon. She had a voice that was so humble I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She told me her story about how she became a vampire that night. It was about 73 years earlier when she was married to a real estate agent named Jonathon Harker. She was about seventeen years old when she first met Count Dracula. I'm sure you probably heard of him."

"Of course I do. Do you believe he was real?"

"I was convinced that he was real by just looking at her. She told me that Dracula attacked Jonathon and forced her to drink the blood from a wound in his chest not before biting her at least three times. Since then she's been carrying the blood of Dracula for years and struggling to find out who she is. She told me that there were people trying to kill her for what she is. She said that she hoped to undo what happened to her and to live a normal life. I told her that I couldn't cure her of vampirism but I could try to give religious advice in order to control her animal-like nature. Since that time when we first met she would visit me after I held services to confess. I had to go through a barrage of stories how she killed a company official, how she joined with a group bent on wiping out the human race and how she just killed a vampire hunter. Hearing her with these stories would… just make me feel like crying. Sometimes I would wish that I never took her under my wing. But I personally feel that God has chosen me to mentor this young lady."

"Do you think your religious instructions are working?"

"I don't know; maybe, maybe not. Sometimes she would come to me and say she's finally able to overcome her thirst for human blood but about two weeks later she would say that she sinned again. She would tell me that God her. That's the reason why she's cursed. I would try to lift her spirits up by telling her that God's a forgiving god and that there was no sin that He couldn't forgive once she confesses it."

"Father, there's something I can't understand. How can a vampire set foot in a church?"

"With the blood of Dracula flowing through her veins, she's virtually powerful against anything that would ward off the average vampire. I personally believe God has ordained it to be that way so that Mina would be close to God."

"Father, I have to warn you that there are vampires out there that have you under surveillance. Your life is in grave danger."

"I'm not worried at all. Mina gave me the same kind of warnings. You see, it's not the mere sight of a crucifix that vampires are afraid of, it's the faith the human has in the cross. It's my faith that keeps me alive."

"What else can you tell me about Mina?"

"There are many who call her the Bride of Dracula. She hates being referred as that. She blames Dracula for everything thing that has happened to her. She doesn't like being immortal. She's a grown woman trapped in the body of a girl. She is tortured by the fact that she would never experience what it's like to grow old. It's the sheer boredom of the immortal life that eats her inside. I could only imagine what it's like to live year after year being tortured by the urge to drink blood, having to be both the hunter and the hunted and having to see mankind slowly killing itself. All I could do is pray for God to give me strength to lead Mina in this life."

"Do you know where she mostly hides out?"

"She doesn't stay one place. She travels the world to find out who she is. She often meets priests in those countries to help her in her soul-searching."

"Do you know where she is now?"

"Like I said before, she doesn't have one residence. She would sometimes take refuge in crack-houses, old apartments and abandoned buildings. She's often paranoid that vampire hunters and vampires would track her down. That's why she moves from place to place."

"I don't get it, Father. Why would Mina kill her species? After all, she is one of them."

"She blames them for what she is. She would tell me that when she kills a vampire it eases the pain that she has inside. Sometimes the pain would come back and she would kill another vampire. She would later confess that doing this has not brought any comfort for her but it has become a habit. She feels that she has to kill them. But when she would drink a human's blood she blames herself for creating more of them. I have one question for you: why do you carry revenge in your heart? Why do you feel that you have to kill Mina? Do you really think that killing her would bring your friends back?"

As Father Curtis asked me those questions I was at a lost for words. I never really gave it thought? Why was I tracking down Mina? I gave a heavy sigh and said "When I was ten years old my dad was killed while hunting vampires. I have this heavy burden to kill as much of them as I can. It's been a tradition for my family for over a century. But the thing is me and whole lot of others weren't able to keep a lid on the vampires. It's up to people like us to stop the human race from becoming extinct. When I heard about Mina about what she is and what she could do I personally thought that we were on brink of being totally wiped out. I feel I have to stop that from happening. Father I really need your help. Everything you've said about Mina may be true but I just can't take any chances."

"I'm afraid you're terribly misguided, child," Father Arnold said shaking his head sadly. "I'm totally convinced that Mina has no ambitions to exterminate our race. She is a woman that has absolutely zero control over her nature. All I could tell you is to try and really take a long hard thought about what I've told you."

I bowed my head and sighed. My work there was done. Every fibre in my soul was telling me that Father Arnold was right. But there was another part of me was telling me not to take any chances. "Think about your father," I thought. "Think about what happened four years ago. Think about what happened to Karen. There mightn't be a tomorrow if you don't kill Mina." I turned to Father Arnold and said "Father, if I may I'd like to confess." He nodded and said "Very well, I guess I could listen to one more person."


	24. Chapter 24

_**After meeting with Mina Harker's spiritual adviser Father Curt Arnold, Anna descends upon the hideout of the vampire group Sigma 12 to find Harker once and for all. However, this would not be a walk in the park.**_

**Chapter 24**

Its 9:55 p.m. on a Monday night. I'm in my apartment gearing up for a little visit. I began by loading silver nitrate bullets into the magazines of the weapons I was gonna use. Two Sig-Sauer P229 handguns and a brand-new Heckler and Koch 416 assault rifle which was light weight and would come in handy in a water-logged environment. I got this from a fellow vampire hunter named Simon Byrd who gave me this on the day of all days: my birthday; imagine that. I tucked my two handguns into the gun holsters strapped unto both of my legs and strapped the H&K 416 over my shoulders. Dressed in a long, black trench coat I descended downstairs and took a cab to the train station. The train was quite empty with very few, if any passengers. I had a seat in the third car of the train and it took off to downtown L.A.

I sat in that corner with a guy who looked like he was in his early twenties listening to tunes on what appeared to be an I-Pod seated at my right. In the virtual silence from the other passengers with the exception on the screeching of the train on the tracks outside I began to think about the perceived events that was about to unfold. What if I was walking right into my own funeral? Exactly how many guys were in this shit hole? What if I fuck up in this one? I haven't talked to Danny for a long while now; what if he's looking down the barrel of a twelve gage shotgun right now? I don't wanna think about that. The biggest question I had at that moment was through all the shit I've been through lately was looking for Mina Harker really worth two months of my life? I gave it a long hard thought. After a while I realised I didn't have an answer. Getting to Manhole 66 was the easy part. The week before I contacted another fellow vampire hunter named Andrew Peterson who worked in the Sewerage Authority. He was able to give me the precise location of Manhole 66. It was found around abandoned apartments in East Los Angeles. It takes me thirty minutes to reach this location. I carried a crowbar to open the manhole. I jabbed the crowbar in the crease of the cover, but it slipped off. I jabbed it again, this time the cover popped open. The cover was quite heavy when I started to shift it from the top of the hole. The moment the hole was opened a fresh stench burned my nose. I turned my head away for a moment and looked back into the hole. It was pitch dark with the sound of dripping water echoing throughout the sewer. There was a ladder at the right of the hole. I took a deep breath and exhaled and then climbed down the ladder with the unbearable stench burning my nose.

I kept climbing down until my legs touched the water in water. The water was reaching up to my knees, plus it felt mossy and slimy and I could feel solid particles floating around me. My two Sig P229 handguns were mounted with flashlights at the bottom in order for me to see in this shit hole. I turned on the flashlights, cocked my handguns and moved forward. The water made my movements very slow and all the while fear had absolute authority over me. I looked dead ahead and saw a pathway leading to a corner. When I made it to this corner it led me to another pathway. At my left there was what appeared to be a long, narrow walkway. I climbed unto the walkway, soaking wet and continued. It seemed like hours went by as I approached pathway after pathway after pathway. Where the fuck were these guys? Approximately thirty minutes had passed when something caught my eye. There were about six guys sitting in a circle armed with H&K UMP submachine guns and H&K G36C assault rifles. I carefully hid myself behind the wall as I tried to make out what they were saying but they were barely audible.

My eyes caught a glimpse of one of them standing up. At that moment I started to move but suddenly I slipped off the edge and my left foot fell in the water. A big splash followed which alerted all six of the guys. I heard the sound of their guns cocking which sucked out nearly all the breath in my body and then I started to run. I was way ahead of them when I heard one of the guys saying, "Over there!" before firing his gun at me. The others joined him firing their weapons at me chipping away a long line of concrete from the wall at the side of me. I stopped at the corner, took cover behind the wall and fired shots from my two Sig-Sauer P229 handguns at the incoming group. A few shots hit two guys and their skin turned to ash and their bones into dust. I started to run again and this time I jumped in the sewerage water to find my way back to the ladder. Like before the water made my movements very slow. Behind my back I could hear the sound of automatic gunfire hitting the water and some bullets zipping over my ears. I looked up and saw one of those bloodsuckers firing a Mac 10 submachine gun at me. I pointed my guns at the guy and pumped five shots in his ass. His body then disintegrated into burning ash and dust that fizzled as his remains fell into the water. I kept on moving ahead when about two guys armed with automatic rifles and one unarmed one ran my way. I fired my hand guns killing the two of them and one of them lounged at me. I moved out of the way and allowed him to pass me. He landed in the water and lounged at me again. This time I pumped three shots into him and he disintegrated into ash and dust. I reloaded both of my handguns and continued running when my eyes caught another narrow concrete walkway. I jumped onto the surface and headed towards the corner. As I made it to the other side I was suddenly approached by two guys both armed with UZIs. Immediately I pointed my guns at them and fired away killing them both. I ran over their burnt remains and headed towards another corner. Suddenly about fourteen guys armed to the teeth came from the corner and darted towards my direction. I ran away as they fired their weapons at me with their rounds hitting the wall. I took cover behind the wall at the corner and fired at them from my handguns. I took out one of bloodsuckers, jumped in the water and ran across the other side firing away with both guns in my hand taking out two more. I started to pick up pace and jumped onto the surface another walkway. I picked up speed as I approached another corner. As soon as I arrived at this corner I was met by a sharp kick to my face which caused me to stagger back and fall into the water. I got up covered with all kind of shit that was floating around in that water and caught a glimpse of a guy with yellow eyes throwing punches and kicks at me. He punched me in the face and kneed in the chest. I fell back into the water on my ass and was given another kick in the face. I fell on my back bleeding from my mouth and saw him aiming to stomp my face with his boot. I turned away as the guy's dirty boot made a big splash. I got up on my feet and saw him swing his foot to my body. I grabbed his leg, pulled out a stake and stabbed him in the chest. He then disintegrated into ash and dust. I then realised I didn't had my two handguns anymore. I heard the guys' voices echoing from my right and started to run again.

I made it the other corner, pulled out my fully automatic flashlight mounted H&K 416 and cocked it for the coming event. I took off my trench coat and waited for those assholes to come as close as possible to endure the most damage. I could hear the splashing of their footsteps from about two feet away from me. I then turned, pointed my rifle into their direction and squeezed the trigger. Seven of them were hit which nearly caused a huge fireball when they turned into ash and dust. Five behind them scattered away and took up defensive positions and fired their weapons at me. I took cover and fired away again with the rounds chipping away at their defence lines. I picked myself up and started to run away down a tunnel. I heard the splashing of the bloodsuckers' feet as they started to run after me. I was about a couple of feet away from the pursuing five when I ran into about five more armed bloodsuckers running in my direction. I stopped abruptly and started firing away from my rifle left to right hitting them all. Their burning remains created a wall of fire as they disintegrated and I ran through getting my skin scorched. Bullets from the five other bloodsuckers flew over my head and struck the wall at my right and other bullets splashed upon impact as they struck the water behind me. I spun around and fired away killing one of the guys. I pulled out the empty clip and fastened a new one and headed towards a corner at my right. I jumped onto the walkway, hid behind the wall and took a squat. The four pursuers were now coming to my direction aiming their weapons at my position. With one hand I fired my H&K 416 at them killing them all.

It seemed like it was all over when I suddenly heard the splashing of footsteps echoing down the route where I ran from. From the left came approximately twenty guys armed with H&K UMP 45 submachine guns and H&K G36K assault rifles running towards. I then picked myself up and ran. Bullets were fired from behind me hitting all over the place. Luckily, none hit me. I then heard a thud from the ceiling of the sewer and I spun around to discover that the pursuing bloodsuckers were starting to scale the walls to get me. I fired away killing about three of them. I ran to another corner and peered from behind the wall. In an instant my eyes caught a glimpse of five of them squatting on the ceiling and both sides of the wall firing their weapons at me. I pulled away as the rounds hit the wall and the water. I ran again and turned into another corner. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a round device. I pressed the button in the middle which made the device give out a long, eerie beep and threw it in down the pathway I came from. I then ran down the pathway as I heard the splashing and the thuds of the pursuing bloodsuckers behind me. I reached another corner and hid behind the wall. I peered to catch a glimpse of the pursuing force down the pathway. I saw about five guys about to make a move into my direction. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a huge flash of light. I pulled away as the light spread to my direction. The screams of the bloodsuckers echoed throughout the sewer which sent chills down my spine. The bright light went out and the screams stopped. I looked back and saw that the sewer was back the way it was before: dark. I ran back to the direction of the bright light and saw the charred remains of the bloodsuckers floating around. The cause of this was the M1 flash bang given to me by Ed Norris of the bounty hunters/ vampire hunters called the Road Dogs. If anyone stood in the way if this thing discharged they would suffer permanent blindness.

Suddenly I heard splashing again coming from the left of the pathway. I started to back away when my I saw about more than forty guys armed with fully and semi-automatic weapons running in my direction. I turned around and picked up paste going into the pathway I was before. The pursers in the front row fired their weapons at me chipping away both sides of the walls. I went into the pathway where I was hiding and down into the other corner. The pathway was long and dark as the sewer itself. The pursuers were far from behind me when I arrived at the end. To my horror it was a dead. My heart dropped at the sight of the 6 feet, 3inch tall concrete wall. I then looked back at the other corner and heard the pursuers coming into my direction. For the first time I was paralysed in fear. I immediately thought of Danny the fact that he may not know that I was about to die at that moment. I wasn't given a chance to enjoy life. I came to the conclusion that it was my destiny to die at that moment. I couldn't take them all and I had only one clip that was almost empty. I accepted the fact that this is how death was supposed to be like.

As about five of them arrive at the corner drawing their weapons, suddenly I caught a glimpse of a figure in black moving faster than the speed of light. I heard the sound of slicing coming through the pursuers. When the figure passed through them ten of them turned into ash and dust. The pursers would fire on this figure and all the while the figure would turn into a blur every time it moved. It stopped for a minute at the corner and the pursuers ran towards it. It started swiping something in its right hand that blurred the moment the pursuers reached up towards the figure. The object the figure had turned ten more of the pursuers into ash and dust. At lightening speed the figure went after the last remaining figures. Armed with what appeared to be a long curved blade on a black handle the figure stabbed five of the pursuers, chopped seven across their bodies and beheaded eight more. In approximately five minutes it was all over. The ash and the dust from the pursuers were floating around me. I looked up and standing in front of me was the black figure. It was standing about two feet away from drenched with sewerage water. The figure had the shape of a teenaged girl about the same height as me. She had short, jet black hair, chalky pale skin and piercing yellow eyes that glowed in the dark. She was wearing a long black trench coat that was draped over a skin-tight full body suit. Through her leather body suit I could see that she was well built with rippling muscles. In her right hand she had a long sword with a curved blade and a black handle. I looked up at her face which had a very stern look. Even though she virtually saved my life, that look told me I was next. I pointed my H&K 416 at her and fired shots into her. She staggered back as the rounds entered her body. I then noticed that as the bullets struck her she was bleeding from her wounds very much like a human. She stood still and to my surprise the wounds started to close up with the blood going back in. In total disbelief I pointed my gun again only to discover I was out of bullets. She walked up close to me and I pulled out a stake and stabbed her in her heart. She looked at the blade and looked at me. I was in total shock. If she was a vampire surely she would've turned into ash by now. Without warning she grabbed me by the hair and flung me down the pathway. I was sent flying until I fell into the mossy water. I got up looked back and saw her walking towards me with the stake still in her chest. I got up and stabbed her in her right eye with another stake. I pressed it into her eye socket as hard and deep as I could. I backed away and to my horror she pulled the stake out of her chest and the other stake in her eye. I then spun around and started to run. I tried as fast as I could in the mossy water. Behind my back I could hear the girl in hot pursuit after me. I heard the sound of her jumping out of the water and a deep whoosh followed and I sensed that she was right over my head. Suddenly I felt a sharp blow behind my head. My eyes got heavy and I started to fall down. Before I hit the water everything turned black.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Anna Van Helsing descends upon the deep sewers in Manhole 66 within downtown Los Angeles. There, she encounters heavy gunfire by a mysterious group of vampires. After putting up a strong fight Anna is cornered by the last remnants of this group. In the blink of an eye these remnants are slaughtered by a young girl in black. The girl sets her sights on Anna, knocking her out unconscious. The following is for those interested in the outcome of this entire story. **_

**Chapter 25**

Everything is black. The sound of clanking metal and dripping water touches my ear. I notice my eyes were closed and I try to open them. Everything was blurry on my first attempt to open my eyes. I let out a low moan. Suddenly I feel a sharp, stinging pain behind my head. It was pain that was very persistent; it was as if I was hit in the head by a hammer. I was probably bleeding. I then felt both of my hands above my head clasped together. Both of my feet were free but I couldn't feel the ground. I make an attempt to open my eyes again. A blur came and then everything came into focus. I was looking down at a girl who was in turn looking at me. She was sitting crossed-legged with a sword in her right hand. She had short, jet-black hair, brilliant yellow eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a skin-tight, full body leather suit and black combat boots on her feet. She was pretty muscular for her age and surprisingly beautiful. To my astonishment she looked awfully familiar. She was the girl I met in the sewer; the same girl who killed all of those suck-heads in one stroke. I tried to get away but as I looked up I discovered that both of my hands were tied up in thick chains and that I was suspended five feet off the ground. I was terrified; a kind of emotion that I never show in the face of the enemy. I looked around and found myself in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. The girl meanwhile was just staring at me. No movements, no emotions; just like a statue.

"Where am I?" I said while I was struggling to free myself. The girl didn't answer. She was still staring me down with those eyes. It was like she was trying to tell me not to talk through her silence. I started to stare at her now while at the same time I was trying to fight the fear I had. There was silence for about ten seconds until I finally said "Are you gonna kill me?" After about ten seconds of silence the girl said in a soft-spoken English accent "That's a very good question." There was silence again. "W…What am I doing here?" I said.

"I'm going to ask you a few simple questions," the girl said as she stood up and walked over to me. "There have been some events of late where many have claimed that there are people after me. All I want to know is what do you know of these things?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Let me try to make it easier for you. There's someone by the name of Nathaniel Abrams. I cornered that fucker two weeks ago and he was telling me about vampire hunters working with him to take me out."

I remembered who Nathaniel Abrams was. He was the leader of Neo Elysium; the second I went to for info on Mina Harker. "What does he have to do with me?" I asked the girl.

"He told me that vampire hunters and vampires were joining forces to bring me down," said the girl. "Do you know anything about this alliance? After all, you are obviously a vampire hunter." I was shocked to hear about this. That motherfucker was lying through his teeth. The only reason I went to that guy was for some vital information, not to start a friendship. It was absolutely not the beginning of an alliance. "That's bullshit. I don't know anything about a partnership with those motherfuckers. Besides, he was only one guy."

"Very well," the girl said. "There was another one named Anderson Koch who is the Chief of Staff for the State Senator of your state Grendel Mohr who told me about many vampires talking about an alliance with the humans. I started to come across many who talked about meeting a young female vampire hunter who was looking for me. Almost all of them described her as being 5ft, 5 inches tall, having a pear of blue eyes and short brown hair. I really find it quite a bit of a coincidence that you fit that description." I felt mum when she said that. That moment was when I was totally convinced that I gave away myself way too much. "I suppose you're wondering how I found you," she continued. "I kept a close eye on you the moment Koch spilled his guts out. Just last night at the Holy Rosary Cathedral Father Curt Arnold told me that you came last week looking for me. I immediately made the decision to look for you. I happen to come across Wendy's Café one night, the same place where you and Mohr had your little date. I broke in and searched for some surveillance tapes and then I spotted you at table 15 with your face in full view of the camera. A certain doorman from Abrams' club happened to give me the license on your bike. I would prowl all over the rooftops catch a strong smell of your blood down at Central L.A. I found your apartment there and took a little tour. You're carrying some heavy artillery for a girl your age. I came across a journal you keep on CD that gave me info on all the moves you've made and your future plans. That's how I found you in the sewers. I must say I found you in the nick of time. What the fuck were you doing down there anyway?"

I was silent for some seconds. I couldn't believe that she was in the place where I considered it the safest: my apartment. I couldn't believe she was able to walk all around in living room and my bedroom without tearing the place apart. And the fact that she was following me the whole time just baffled me. I looked at her getting ready to explain my reasons for being in the sewers. The way she talked was as if she was my dad and she just found cigarettes in my bedroom. "A few days ago I went to this lady named Alexandria Wolfe who told where I could find these guys called the Sigma 12 and ask them where I could find this girl named Mina Harker." I said.

"Even if the Sigma 12 was there," said the girl "what were the chances of you getting your information and walking out of there in one piece?"

"You mean Sigma 12 wasn't there?" I said.

"Exactly. To start with, there is no Sigma 12."

"What?"

"Yes. That sewer is where all the bloodsucking thugs meet. They get their weapons from security firms from all across the United States. These groups are able to pay for their weapons usually through racketeering. That's why, if you've noticed, they have rifles basically used by the military. These groups are usually trouble makers the police worries about."

"Is there at least a guy named Dean Hoyt?"

"Of course there is. But he's not apart of this Sigma 12. He's actually a member of the group Eternal Flame. There's a rivalry between him and Wolfe that has lasted for decades with no end in sight. Wolfe was just yanking your chain. She's set you up for a trap." I was shocked. How could I have been so careless to take Wolfe's word after she almost killed me? That bitch! "As a member of the Van Helsing clan, I expect you to be smarter than that," I suddenly had a feeling when she said that. It was a huge blow to the stomach. How did she know what group I belong to? "How did you know?" I said.

"The scent of your blood," said the girl. "It's O negative just like your great grandfather Abram Van Helsing." There was another blow to my chest. She knows Abe Van Helsing? "Now tell me the truth," the girl continued. "What is your name?" I hesitated at first. Two things could've happened if I told her my real name. She could probably be ready to be my partner since she knows my great, great grandfather or she probably had a beef with my family and she wanted to kill me."Anna Van Helsing," I said after five seconds.

"Are you by any chance related to Eric Van Helsing?" the girl then asked. Another blow; she knew my father! Who the fuck is this girl? "Who are you?" I finally asked her. The girl paused for a few seconds and said "Wilhelmina Harker. You can simply call me Mina."

"Mina Harker?" I said. Mina nodded slowly. "Are you The Bride of Dracula?" I then asked. The girl suddenly pulled out her sword from her sheath and brought the blade to my neck. On her face was a look of rage, rage that was beyond human understanding. "Don't EVER call me that!" she shouted. My breath was suddenly trembling and I was overwhelmed with fear. Mina moved the blade from my neck and started to back away. Her eyes were still fixated on me and she still had that look of rage. She was now about six feet away from me and then she turned around and released a heavy sigh. "I don't blame you for calling me that," Mina continued. "Many over the years refer to me as Count Dracula's supreme lover. I'll never get over what he did to me that night exactly 108 ago. I'm now cursed among all races. Everything's changing except me. I've waited patiently for years a certain vampire hunter to finally kill me. I am a prisoner of invulnerability and immortality. I never thought the day would come when I would suddenly be fighting a Van Helsing." I was at a loss. I didn't how I was supposed to feel at that moment. I didn't know if I was supposed to feel sorry for her or turn a cold shoulder. "Eric Van Helsing was my father," I said. "He was a vampire hunter just like me. What was going on between the two of you?" Mina turned around, looked me in the eyes and said "We were once allies. I meet him and his brother Peter in New York City back in 1977. They were young and inexperienced and they needed my help in tracking down one named Demitri Mann, a powerful vampire elder. I provided them with the precise intelligence on his whereabouts, his personality and his movements in combat. Ultimately I was the one who eventually killed Demitri."

"What was in it for you?"

"It was personal. Demetri was one of Dracula's first apprentices. I sought to eradicate all traces of Dracula's memory but Demetri demise was just the beginning of endless hardship."

"If you've teamed up with a vampire hunter in the pass why kill vampire hunters now."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Are you working for anybody?"

"Absolutely not. To be honest with you when I kill a vampire hunter it brings on more pain than eases it."

"Why don't you just stop?"

"There are many vampire hunters as you know. Every year they hunt me down. I don't blame them though. My existence is the only thing that's threatening them. When I'm finally cornered I feel the need to fight back. They try and try and try. It's like torture. I would like to show them that it's pointless trying to kill me. Their killing methods are all in vain. What sense would it make if I simply tell them if they won't listen."

"…If you're not working for the vampires and kill any vampire hunter that comes your way, whose side are you on?"

"I'm on no one's side because no one's on my side. There are some who admire me, some who worship me, but there are many who want me dead. The humans want me dead and the vampires want me dead. I wish I could fulfill their wishes, but year after year I remain in existence. And year after year the world changes into something I can't stand. Every year one is killing the other, bombing the other and at the same time losing their moral codes. It's a sight that makes my heart bleed. I'll always remain trapped in the cold body of a girl never aging and never withering while the world around me evolves into a vicious beast."

In her words and in her voice I could sense vulnerability and great sadness. I kinda see those things around me too. I guess we were on the same page with that. "I'd still like to know if you aren't on anybody's side, then how you ended up working with people like my father and Todo Hotsumi." I said. Mina bowed her head slowly. "I felt I had a personal obligation to help a Van Helsing after a Van Helsing tried and yet, ultimately failed to help me. Before I met Hotsumi I was lost. I didn't know how to live with my newfound life. I came across Todo Hotsumi in the early years of the last century. He had promised to show me the way forward in the life of a vampire. From there things didn't turn out like he had promised."

"You think you'd wanna tell me about it?"

"If it will make you feel any better."


	26. Chapter 26

_**Anna Van Helsing finally meets Mina Harker, the Bride of Dracula, in the flesh. Having captured Anna, Harker hopes to gain information about Anna's search for her and in turn give Anna information about her.**_

**Chapter 26**

"I was born Wilhelmina Murray in Manchester, England on Wednesday, September 11th, 1880," Mina Harker said as she began telling me her story. "My parents moved to London when I was three years old after my father found a job there. Tragically when I was five years old my father was killed when he was run over by a carriage. Five years later my mother died of a massive stroke. From there I was under the care of my grandparents, parents on my father's side. When I was fourteen I started teaching etiquette at White Water Primary School and along the way I met fifteen year old Lucy Westerna the daughter of the president of the local bank that time. Her mother suffered from heart disease but that didn't seem to stop her from living the wild life of an untamed teen. When I was fifteen I met a young law student named Jonathon Harker who hoped to become a solicitor. We fell in love after two months. A week after I celebrated my seventeenth birthday Jonathon was given an assignment in Romania. Just before he left he proposed to marry me in which I gladly accepted."

Harker pulled out a small photo out of her trench coat and showed it to me. The picture showed a girl with piercing eyes sitting on a chair wearing Victorian-era clothing. The photo was fading but the girl looked beautiful. Another thing, the girl looked exactly like Harker! "This is me at seventeen before I became what I am," said Harker. He placed the photo back her trench coat and continued with her story. "I've waited for Jonathon for an entire month. During that time I received letters from him telling me how he was stationed at a castle within the region of Transylvania and his host had shown great kindness to him. After those letters Jonathon stopped writing to me. During this time I was invited by Lucy to stay at her house for weekend. That night I was awakened by the opening of the front door. Lucy was walking out into the streets of London through the stormy weather. I followed her until I saw her in the arms of a tall black figure with red eyes. The figure disappeared and I ran towards Lucy and discovered that she was bleeding from gaping holes in her neck. She was taken to the hospital and then sent back home after a week because the doctors could do nothing for her. I was distraught. I thought she would surely die until one day she came to me with high spirits and the holes in her neck were healed. It was as if nothing had happened before. Five days later she was bed ridden and extremely weak. Dr. John Steward a physiatrist at local insane asylum who had earlier made a marriage proposal to her called upon his former teacher and close friend Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, your great, great grandfather. When he examined Lucy he acted very mysteriously withholding what he knew of Lucy's condition. He then requested blood transfusions from Seward, Lucy's fiancé Arthur Holmwood and American Quincy Morris who had also proposed to Lucy earlier. The blood transfusions seemed to be successful after two days when Lucy had regained consciousness and had full energy. It was during this time when I was contacted by Jonathon's firm to meet him in Budapest. I finally met Jonathon in the main convent where I discovered him in a state he was not usually in. In his eyes there was intense fear and trauma that was beyond my understanding. I stumbled upon his journal where he spoke of great evil and danger within the castle of a Transylvanian nobleman named Count Dracula. Through every page there was account after account of how he was threatened by three "female demons" and psychologically imprisoned by Dracula and how he barely managed to escaped from Dracula's castle. After a while Jonathon was nursed back to physical mental health and we were finally married. Two weeks later Lucy was back into a state of weakness. I then noticed the canines of her teeth were longer than usual and her skin turning pale when we talked for the last time. That night Lucy died in horrific fashion along with her mother.

I mourned her death for days but no one was more affected by the loss than Arthur. Weeks had passed when reports started to emerge of a young "bloofer" lady in white attacking children in the night. One night as I walked through the streets of London there she was: Lucy Westerna who was supposed to be dead three weeks ago. She assured me that she was indeed my dead friend and that she was now living the life of great longevity and power. She then left me within the crowd with the option of living a mortal life or being reborn. Three days later Lucy was reported to have killed seven more children but Abraham came to me and told me that Lucy had died. I was told it was a necessary death and that none would be harmed by Lucy's animalistic tendencies any more. I was saddened but I accepted the fact that Lucy's second death was justified. One night Abraham gathered Jonathon and the others, me included, to tell us of the danger that was unleashed upon our country. He revealed that Count Dracula, the nobleman who Jonathon attended to in Transylvania had arrived in London and sought to create a kingdom where his kind would rule the earth. Abraham revealed to us that Dracula was a vampire who turned humans into creatures that seek blood. Lucy was one of those animals. Dracula's flaws and weaknesses were also revealed and Abraham emphasized the need and the urgency to destroy Dracula before he was successful in his quest to turn London and the world into a vampire dominion.

I, Jonathon, Abraham and the others built refuge in Dr. Seward's insane asylum where we planned our goals to kill the nobleman; and then one night it happened. Jonathon and I were asleep when Dracula descended upon us in our room and attacked Jonathon. I was deep in Dracula's clutches when he revealed to me that he knew of the plot against him and that it was time for me to become his queen so I would rule this world along with him. He began this task by biting me on the both sides of my neck and finally biting me on my right wrist. He completed the task by making and incision in his chest and forcing me to drink the blood from the wound. By the time Abraham and the others broke into the room I had already drank all of Dracula's blood and Dracula had escaped. When Jonathon regained consciousness Abraham revealed to him that I was now going through the first stages of becoming the vampire. He was most distraught over this possibility while Arthur and Quincy started to treat me with great prejudice. It was during this time I felt all the blood in my veins turn into ice. I would be a state of consciousness and then everything would turn black. I would go through periods of weakness and notice the canines of my teeth getting sharper every day. I would experience something I haven't felt before: extreme thirst. Days would go by and my throat would be parched. I started hearing the faintest sounds and smell the most distant things. One day a sparrow landed on my window and I grabbed it at a speed I never thought I had. I tore open its flesh with my teeth and started to drink its blood. The moment I tasted it I felt warmth, warmth I haven't felt since that fateful night. That day I confined in Jonathon and the others that if I was to become a member of the undead that they should promise to kill me. And then I started seeing things that distressed me. I began seeing people being killed from a person's point of view. It was as if I was right there witnessing it firsthand. There were at least two incidents where I heard the voice of a man speaking of a counter attack on those who interfered with his plans. There was this one incident where this man spoke of killing Jonathon. This voice belonged to Dracula. I didn't know why I was experiencing this. Soon I discovered it was one of my first powers: telepathy. Whenever Dracula made movements I was witnessing it psychologically. Abraham and the others soon discovered this power within me and used it to trace the footsteps of Dracula.

Dracula was headed back to his castle in Transylvania. Jonathon, Abraham, Seward, Holmwood, Morris and I arrived there days after I traced Dracula arriving in Romania by yacht. When we arrived a blizzard threatened to halt our advance against Dracula. We've spent nearly an entire month in blistering cold and deep forest until I was captured by three women. Abraham tried to fend them off but he was no match for their speed and their strength. These women were vampires. They all laid firm grips on me and took me away to Dracula's castle. There, Dracula imprisoned me intending to use me as bait for Jonathon and the others. During this time I began having seizures and feeling tremendous weakness. Dracula came to me and said that it was the norm for my metamorphosis and the only way for it to stop was for me to drink blood. I refused to do it. He then brought a man to me unconscious from tranquilizers. He left me all alone with this man. Hours seemed to had passed and I was still looking at him. I couldn't resist the thirst and there I had my first taste of human blood. It would be five days until Jonathon and the others would finally come to rescue me. Jonathon came to rescue me from the prison cell where I was held but he was caught off guard by Dracula's presence. Dracula and Jonathon then engaged in intense combat and then Jonathon right arm was severed by Dracula's sword. At this sight I felt immense fire build up within me which gave me the strength to break out of my cell and engage with Dracula. Our fight was never ending throwing whatever we had upon each other. The battle would finally end when I grabbed the bowie knife Morris had given to Jonathon and stabbed it in Dracula's chest. Dracula was finally dead."

"You killed Dracula?" I asked. Mina nodded. "But I thought it was Abraham."

"Who told you that?" said Mina.

"I have detailed files on what happened that day. It was written by Alexander Van Helsing in 1915."

"Alexander Van Helsing, a man full of hate and revenge. History is often distorted and re-written by those who cannot handle the truth. I met him in 1908. He sought to kill me while tracking me down in Paris. It was the first incident where I discovered that I was invincible to the stake. I'll get to that later. After I killed Dracula his castle suddenly began to collapse. Jonathon tried to convince me to escape with him. At that moment I began to think of the consequences of this. I didn't want Jonathon to live all the days of his life with a vampire as his wife. I didn't want to be tempted to drink from Jonathon's blood and I didn't want for us to be persecuted because we were not similar. I declined his offer to escape. Just then the room began to collapse and Jonathon escaped without saying goodbye. I managed to escape before Dracula's castle finally crumbled to the ground.

It would be ten years when I learned that Arthur Holmwood would be remarried and living in Scotland. Abraham Van Helisng would return to The Netherlands to continue his profession as a professor teaching philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. John Seward continued to run his insane asylum and Quincy Morris had died in the battle against Dracula's minions. Jonathon had taken up a profession as a criminal lawyer prosecuting various crimes. I would soon discover that he too was remarried and had two children, a boy and a girl naming the boy Quincy in memory of Morris. Through all this I was still a creature of the undead. I lived on the streets trying to control the creature within. I traveled the world hoping to have a sense of belonging in these countries. And then I ended up back in England homeless and thirsty for blood. I felt empty and alone. I didn't want to continue being held in this frigid prison. Every time I killed tremendous guilt overcame me. I didn't know how much of this I could bear. One cold winter's night February 5th 1910 I met the one who promised to give me the answers as to how to live the life of a vampire; a 300 year old swordsman from Japan."

"Todo Hotsumi."

"Yes. He told me that he saw great potential in me and that staying in England would not unleash that potential. He took me to Japan where he presented his school where he recruited vampires the world over and trained them in the ancient marital arts. I've spent twenty years learning and eventually mastering the arts in Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do but it was Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu where I had true strength. I was an expert in the 18 disciplines of Ninjutsu; none other among Hotsumi's pupils had such an achievement. Hotsumi was greatly impressed with my skills. He came to the conclusion that a mere katana was no sword to unleash my greatest strength. It was forged with 120 of iron making it ten times stronger than the mere sword's blade, 30 titanium which enables it to survive for centuries and plated with 60 of what Hotsumi discovered in one of his local factories: silver nitrate. So you see, dear, the humans were not the ones who first discovered the vampire's greatest weakness. He had confined in me that he knew of this two centuries prior and wanted to use it "when the time was right." I knew I would be attached to the sword's beauty and strength for all eternity. I requested for Hotsumi to place an engraving on the blade. It was a Latin engraving of Psalm 23 placed to serve as a reminder of my origins: "Yea, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me." Despite his objections he agreed to do it. Immediately this sword helped set me apart from the other students. He placed me in this group called Hallow Dragon. Many within Hallow Dragon had persecuted me saying I was not different from humans and that Hotsumi had made a great mistake in choosing me to be a part of his foundation.

Years would go by and Hotsumi would reveal a side of him that was vile and dark. He became manipulative, controlling and tyrannical. I was the prime target of this behavior. He would make sexual advances towards me and force me to give in to his desires. I recall this one incident where he sought control of this village in Osaka and he ordered all the occupants to be killed. The others came to this girl and sought to kill her. I stopped them insisting that they spare her life. One of them, Alexandria Wolfe reminded me that Hotsumi specifically ordered that all the occupants be eliminated and that if one was spared this would be a failure of duty. She also emphasized on the willingness to report to Hotsumi that I was the reason for this failure. I already knew the kind of man Hotsumi would be if he found out that one of followers had failed him. I offered to do the task of killing this one last occupant, taking off her head. Though it was quick, that girl's death by my hands would place a heavy burden on me. I would later discover that the whole mission was set up to test my loyalty to Hotsumi. And then World War 2 came and the atomic destructions of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I was a part of the campaign to eliminate the American-led occupation of Japan. I came to this one American soldier. The sent of his blood was familiar. It was as if I've met him before. His name was Kenneth Van Helsing."

"Kenneth Van Helsing? He was my great uncle."

"Yes. I spared his life fearing that if I killed him it would break a promise I had made myself forty years earlier. I had promised that if I was to live the life of a vampire I would never kill a Van Helsing. Two days later Hollow Dragon was attacked by a group of vampire hunters known as The Dark Saints. A stake was stabbed in my heart thus, letting everyone know that I was no common vampire. That was when things took a turn for the worse. Many within Hallow Dragon allowed their lust for power and invulnerability to control and relentlessly sought a taste of Dracula's blood that ran through my veins. At day Wolfe and the others would seek to slit my wrist just to have a taste."

"Your wrists could be slit? I thought since you're the most powerful vampire in the world you can't be hurt like that."

"That is what your kind does not know. At daylight the vampire's skin becomes soft and can be easily penetrated by any blade without healing in an instant. In this case my right wrist was slit, but no one was close to experiencing the taste of Dracula's blood. This was an action that caused me to engage in fierce battle with Wolfe and the others. That's how that bitch was able to live all these years without her right arm. Wolfe and her handful of followers would not be the last of those who wanted to experience living the life of a vampire with the blood of Dracula running through their veins. Hotsumi would ultimately be the last one searching for a way to be the most powerful. He sent me on "assignment" in the rural territories of the Ryukyu Islands to recruit new pupils. Little did I know that I was walking into a trap. He along with about 60 members of Hollow Dragon entrapped me to drain Dracula's blood out of my body. I was able to free myself from imprisonment and fight through their defenses. I was last stopped by Hotsumi who tried to convince me to stay with him but I refuse. Instead I gave him something to remind him of the thirty years of torment he had caused me: A 25-inch scar across his torso. I escaped the island and to that effect Japan and from there I became a ronin. I was a master less samurai who would forever roam the face of the earth. "

"God, I really didn't know the guy hurt you like that. He never really gave me that impression when I sat down with him."

"A mere vampire would never give that kind of impression now would he? He is an expert in hiding secrets that would destroy the pleasant image he seeks to present. The reason he chose me was because Dracula was like a brother to him. When Dracula died it was as if a fragment of Hotsumi's soul had died also. The truth is when we first met he was well aware of Dracula's blood that ran through my veins. He waited until I was unlike any human or vampire that walked the earth. His real intentions were to become Dracula to carry on his legacy with me joining him; when I refused Hotsumi unleashed full venom upon me. After leaving the Japan I traveled the world in search of who I really was: human or vampire? I wish I would be free of the thirst for human blood but I am deep within the vampire's clutches. My human sides tells me that the more I kill the further away I am from God but the vampire tells me that blood is the only remedy for my great hunger. From London to Paris, Paris to Berlin, to Rome, to Moscow, to Tokyo, to Sydney, to New Orleans, to Chicago, to Toronto, to Miami, to New York and now to Los Angeles I've roamed these streets trying to find purpose for my life while at the same time learning the languages of these countries."

"Well, how did you ended up working for guys like Abrams?"

"That, child, is something I'm more than willing to address."


	27. Chapter 27

_**Mina Harker, the Bride of Dracula, explains her origins and her life under Todo Hotsumi. There is much more for Mina to answer to. **_

**Chapter 27**

"How long has Hotsumi's been doing that kind of shit to you?" I said.

"Since the first year I became his pupil," Mina said "and it continued for the next thirty years. I initially didn't have the courage to escape. I thought if I did I would be alone and persecuted by the human race. On some levels Hollow Dragon was the one place where I never felt different."

"Why did you go back to him?"

"After escaping his trap I returned to him forty years later to inform him that I was forgiving him for the pain he brought upon me."

"What? How could you forgive a guy like that?"

"Father Arnold informed me that if I held records of past sins God in Heaven would not forgive me. I thought by forgiving Hotsumi that God finally free me from the burden of being a killer. But that was fifteen years ago and I'm still a vampire."

"What about that thing between you and Alexander Van Helsing?"

"I met Alexander in the winter of 1908 when I lived on the streets and preyed on the homeless and on prostitutes. He discovered I was a vampire by the glowing of my eyes and started to advance against me. I insisted I did not want to fight him but he stabbed me with a stake. To my shock I felt no pain and I wasn't dying at that moment. Alexander himself was shocked. His persistence was so strong I thought I had to end this fight so I pulled out the stake from my chest and stabbed him in the eye and then I made my escape. That is why, if you've noticed, some pictures show him wearing an eye patch. I hope you understand that this action was necessary."

"Was it necessary to kill two of my comrades?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Alan Hamil and Alexis Foster. They were close friends of mine. They were killed by a girl called The Girl of Steel who works for The Brotherhood of Doom. She happened to have a sword just like yours."

Mina Harker suddenly bowed her head sadly. "I can't tell a lie," she said. "I took refuge at this crack house in southern Los Angeles. Ten vampire hunters stormed the house and searched for me. I killed three hunters at first and then I saw two men and one woman. I killed the man and woman and I spared the last one." The way Mina calmly explained the details leading up to the deaths of Al and Lex was like she was hitting me in the chest with sledge hammer. It was amazing how she could say all those things without any kind of emotion. "Why didn't you kill the last one?" I asked.

"Then it would break the promise I made," Mina said. "If I killed a Van Helsing I would never forgive myself. Are you related to this Van Helsing?" I paused for a minute and said "He's Daniel Van Helsing. We call him Danny. He's my brother."

"He is?" Mina said. "You both have your father's eyes. I know I've brought great pain upon you and you're comrades. I won't ask you for forgiveness but I want you to understand that this fragile temple of mine is held prisoner by the blood of Dracula. It's like his wandering soul is still controlling me. All traits of his sadism and brutality were unleashed unto me through his blood. Not only had he sought to create me into a new being he also made sure I was the one who would carry on his legacy."

"That's still no excuse, bitch!" Suddenly I felt a sharp sting under my arm. I let out a yelp and I saw a fine thin line under my right arm. A few seconds later it started to bleed. I then looked at Mina and I started to wonder if she was responsible. I thought if she was responsible then it would've taken her a quarter of a second. That was amazing speed! I didn't even see her raise her sword. "Less talking and more listening are essential for your life to be prolonged on this earth and try to show respect," Mina said. "You should try standing in the shoes of those you judge. You must consider yourself blessed. Blessed that you will be able to become a fully grown woman and blessed that you are in the company of friends you can trust. I've never worked for The Brotherhood of Doom and I never will. Those fucking wankers! I can longer associate with the vampire race or any race for that matter. I've wandered around the world searching for companionship but the thoughts of being a vampire discouraged me from going any further.

I wanted someone to blame for my condition. I wanted to take out my frustrations on the villain who created me into what I am. Dracula was already dead but I still saw his face among the growing vampire race. With the Final Dawn in my hand I began my crusade to eliminate all traces of Dracula's legacy. The first vampire I killed was Kent Thorpe, the leader of The Fires of Dusk. When I killed him all the frustration, all the hate and all the pain seemed to have vanished; but I would discover that there were many others. I would travel the world killing what was supposed to be members of my kind because I wanted the vampire race to understand that I was nothing like them. But the death toll would reach 1000 and I would discover that the vampire was still growing in its numbers. Even though I couldn't see them I still felt their presence. To make matters worse I contributed to helping the vampire gain a foothold within the world. I could not control my thirst for blood which placed an even larger emotional burden on my shoulders. But that didn't stop my urge to wipe out the other vampires. I thought if it was my destiny to create a mere human into an immortal creature then I should at least kill as many of the undead as I could. Along the way, however, I would come across vampire hunters. They would all use weapons they've created through their own toil and I would not feel the full effects. I would try to elude them but they have such persistence. Even though the blood of Dracula shields me from all the effects silver nitrate would have on the mere vampire it doesn't stop the vampire hunter in his pursuit. One day I couldn't take it anymore. I decided to fight back. The first vampire hunters I killed were three members of Pursuers of the Night. I wasn't completely aware of The Final Dawn's capabilities against humans until I saw their bodies being dismembered and their blood splattering against the walls. I suddenly realized that killing a human was far more different than killing a vampire. Every time I killed vampire hunters the emotional strain became greater. But I didn't stop because I thought I would leave a warning of sorts that would discourage the vampire hunter from hunting me. This warning, however, is left largely unheeded. Nowadays in this new century the vampire hunter's persistence is far greater than it was in the last century especially with all that state-of-the-art equipment.

I would prowl the streets in every country, alone and murderous until I grabbed the attention from an unlikely source. Jeremiah Magnus, the 200 year old leader of Eternal Paths, took note of my invulnerability against silver nitrate and my swordsmanship and contacted me through his second in command in 1971. I met him face to face at his headquarters Chicago where he hired me as his personal hit woman for the sum of $2 million a hit. I accepted the offer without hesitation, but not without offering the condition that I do the hits for free. Money means absolutely nothing to me. I worked under him for two years. During these years I noticed something I haven't seen in Dracula and Hotsumi: he showed me kindness, he made feel special and he never made any unwanted advances towards me. But all those thoughts changed on the night of April 23rd 1973. He ordered me to kill a young nun named Sister Angela Lewis. The week before Magnus dispatched members of his group upon Lewis' home demanding that she left town or face the consequences. At that time West Chicago was predominantly controlled by various vampire clans and they all viewed her presence as a threat. Magnus ordered me to take Lewis out when she finished services at her church. I stalked her until I met her alone waiting at the train station. I hesitated so greatly. She was horrified at my presence and I sensed her wavering faith in God. I told her that I would spare her life and that it would be wise that if she moved out of town for her own safety. Unfortunately for me I was being watched by Magnus's men who were enraged by my inability to carry out Magnus' orders. They took it upon themselves to finish the task but I killed them all thus saving Sister Lewis's life. It was by these actions that she was convinced that I was the protector of God's children.

The following night I was called by Magnus demanding to know why I failed to carry out my assignment. I told him that Lewis was hard to locate. Unfortunately he saw through my lie and had me captured. He placed me in captivity where he would later inform me that he planned to kill Lewis regardless of whether or not she heeded his warnings and he knew all along my reluctance to carry out certain assignments against humans. I spent the night in captivity lost in thought. I was enraged of Magnus's intentions but most importantly angry with myself for choosing to join forces with him. I joined the Paths of Eternity because he had all the info on the whereabouts of various vampire hunters which I thought would make my task easier. I didn't care what task I was given as long as it involved vanquishing Dracula's legacy. I had to break free of the prison I placed myself in. I broke away from my bonds and began killing every member of Magnus's group in sight with my bare hands. I finally located my sword and continued with my pursuit of Magnus. When I finally reached him I was surprised to find out that he was also a swordsman. We engaged in fierce combat; touching each other's blades with no end in sight. I noticed that he had great skill with his long sword with years of experience. We would go on for thirty minutes until I finally chop off his sword wielding hand and took off his head.

Three years would pass until I found myself in New York City. There I continued on my path to eliminate the vampire race. At the same time I felt lonely once more. I had no reason to continue this meaningless existence until the name Demetri Mann touched my ears. I heard among many vampires alike that he was one of Count Dracula's strongest apprentices and he sought to carry on Dracula's legacy by attempting to create New York into a vampire kingdom. To me it was 1897 all over again. My past was coming back to haunt me. Mann began his reign of terror unleashing full scale attacks upon Manhattan. By the end of 1975 Mann had controlled 50 of New York. Through all this chaos I was convinced that Dracula would be resurrected somehow. This period of time had all the hallmarks of that tumultuous year when I became a vampire. Gruesome and bloody attacks were being reported on the news and many New Yorkers lived in fear and the Police seemed unable or unwilling to put an end to the madness. I took it upon myself to find Mann not only to kill him but to end the lasting legacy of the Count. I squeezed out info from all places to find him: from ordinary bloodsuckers that roamed the streets to vampires who controlled the various business sectors of New York. I would continue to do this until I met your father and your uncle in 1977, ages 18 and 22 respectfully at the time. It happened by accident, really. They were outnumbered by members of the group Disciples of Anarchy. I saved them from sure death. They were amazed at my strength and agility and by the fact that a mere vampire could be the ally of a human. They told me that they were in New York searching for Mann. I then revealed to him that I was searching for the same thing. From there an alliance was born. I relished in the new friendship. Peter was apprehensive about the relationship at first but I looked into Eric's eyes and I saw that he felt that he had a personal and moral obligation to join forces with me. I have the utmost admiration for Van Hellsing. I never thought the day would come when I would fight alongside the descendants of Abraham. There was another thing I thought I had to gain from the alliance. I thought Eric and Peter would somehow find a cure for my condition. In the months leading up to this encounter I hoped and prayed that I would finally be free from living this life with Dracula's blood running in my veins.

We've fought against many of Mann's associates and other random vampires for three months. Our alliance was kept secret from your father and your uncle's comrades. During this time Peter did research on my condition. He presented his findings saying that there was no exact cure for vampirism and that my condition only made matters worse. He said that the blood of Dracula was regenerating every five seconds and by me drinking human blood was making Dracula's blood even stronger. He told me that there was a possible way to weaken the blood of Dracula: control the intake of human blood.

In April 1977 we were finally close to confronting Mann. He barricaded himself at his headquarters in Manhattan and surrounded himself with armed protection. With my help we all were able to break through the armed resistance. I would like to point out that you're father fought valiantly. I spotted Mann escaping to the roof and I tracked him down to his last place of hiding. I was shocked to discover that Mann also lived by the sword. We engaged in heated battle that seemed never ending. It was in was in this battle where I discovered that I was not the only vampire that carried the katana. Mann was a well-trained, well disciplined swordsman, but these traits could not save him from certain death. I ended our battle with a simple stroke and off came his head. Peter and Eric came and saw that the nightmare that threatened New York was finally over. They congratulated me and I in turn thanked them for the friendship we had shared. From there we went our separate ways never to see each other again. I would really like to meet them again."

"Well I hate to break it to you…Dad died…seven years ago… doing…what he did best."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that. I could tell you one thing: your father's death wasn't in vain. You should be proud of him."

"I am."

"Moving on. The 1980s came and as technology grew so did the vampire in its numbers. I was aware because I felt its presence everywhere I went. I would hear the screams of innocent victims from distances of 10 miles and to my horror I heard the thoughts of the vampire. Their thoughts gave clear information of their movements and their intentions. It was a power I never thought I had; a power I used to my advantage. After a while I came to realize that of all the places where I tracked down the vampire there was one place where I never set foot on: Mexico. Ten years in Madrid was helpful as I was able to speak the Spanish language. I spent five years in the border towns along the Los Angeles border killing all vampires I came across. It had seemed as if I was successful in eliminating the vampire's existence in these towns as I never felt its presence. This was not possible. But then one day in 1983 I met one named Benicio Del Blanco, the leader of The Scarlet Lines. He came to me to propose an offer to become his personal assassin. I rejected the offer given my experience with Magnus in the previous decade. But he insisted that I give him a year before I made a final judgment. I performed hits for Del Blanco the entire year. One year became two years and then three until I was asked him to relieve me of my duties after five years.

In 1985, somehow the leader of the New Order, Raul de la Cruz received a recommendation to hire me to kill his rivals. I only worked a month for him until we were raided by these hunters who killed him. I killed all but the last one. I instead gave him a message to all hunters who sought to kill me."

"That guy who you spared was Bill Conner."

"Who?"

"Bill Conner. He's a member of The Road Dogs. He was hunting you down for killing his brother."

"What're you talking about?"

"His brother Jason along with some others raided this Casino owned by a member of the Crimson Angels. He was killed by a woman carrying a katana sword."

"That's very unfortunate, but I was never at that casino and I had not associated with the Crimson Angels."

"But there are witnesses that said you were there and that you sliced him up like baloney."

"Lies, all lies. I had nothing to do with that particular case."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned there's no chick out there with that kinda skill."

"Wanna bet? I'd like to bring up the name Helena Krzysztof, a Pole who became a member of the vampire race at age fifteen. Thirty years ago she was recruited by Todo Hotsumi, the same Hotsumi who recruited me. Her skills are second compared to mine. She still serves under Hotsumi who uses her eliminate his rivals and any human who gets in his way."

"Oh yeah? What about Peter Craig. I'm sure you've heard about him. He's been after you for years. He thinks that you have some kind of connection with Dracula. He also blames you for the death of his daughter."

"I've heard of Craig and perhaps I do have a connection with Dracula on some levels but I had nothing to do with the death of his daughter. It's possible that Matthew Adler has a hand in this matter."

"What?"

"Matthew Adler, over 535 year of age, is the leader of Mystic Shadow. His favorite weapon is the katana such as this. Sometimes he personally engages in battles with rival clans. He and Craig were engaged in this intense rivalry for over a century. I assume that his life was consumed on ending all traces of Dracula's memory that he spent little time thinking about Alder. My theory is: Alder was well aware of Craig's obsession with Dracula and me so he decided that to strike at the very heart of Craig by killing his daughter."

"How can you convince me that all what you're saying is true?"

"Look at it this way: Krzysztof, as beautiful as she is, lost her right eye in a battle with vampire hunters twenty-eight years ago and Alder's face is disfigured from a silver nitrate attack. We all know that no one can inflict permanent scars on the "Bride of Dracula".

"Have you ever met these people personally?"

"I engaged in combat with her in Vancouver in 1973. She wished to test her skills on one she considers a legend. She was defeated but I spared her life pointing out that we were evenly matched though she refused to believe it. At that time I was unaware of her connections to Hotsumi. As it turns out Hotsumi actually sent her to kill me. I would find out this when I tried to forgive him.

I met Alder in 1986 when I took it upon myself to kill him. He has such a horrid face. I engaged with him on the rooftops in Detroit, stabbing him once in the abdomen before he escaped from my presence and disappeared among the crowds."

I've been listening to Harker for about twenty minutes and in her voice I was convinced she was telling me nothing but the truth. All my life I saw vampires as these fuckers with no emotion and no conscious. In Mina I saw somebody who I could feel for; someone who was vulnerable and seemed desperate. A girl doomed to eternal youth screaming for someone to pull her out of it. But there was one thing I wanted to know: can she explain the lust for vampire blood?


	28. Chapter 28

_**The following is for those who are interested in the outcome of this story that took three years to complete. **_

**Chapter 28**

"So how did you end up working for somebody like Nathaniel Abrams?" I said.

"After my services for de la Cruz ended I decided to lay down my sword and mend my ways for God," Mina said. "I personally believed that the more I disobeyed the sixth commandment the further away I was from God. And on February 5th 1990, it happened. Heather Hume, a five year old girl from Glasgow, Scotland was abducted as she lay asleep in her home. For two months her family along with law enforcement searched for her and relatives appeared on television pleading for her release. On March 22nd Heather Hume was found. She was found dead lying near a riverbed partially naked with wounds in her neck. An autopsy revealed that she was raped and the cause of death was due to extreme blood loss. This only meant one thing: Heather was raped and murdered by a vampire.

Many had mourned her death, but there was no one more affected by her murder than I was. I was distraught over the notion that someone would ruthlessly take the life of a girl so young; a girl who never had a chance to really experience life. I blamed myself for the kidnap and ultimate murder of this girl. I felt I was the one who personally drove my fangs into her neck. I spent the following months wandering the streets of London with the murder of Heather heavy on my mind. I hated myself for laying down my sword and allowing such a tragedy to occur. One night in the pouring rain, my eyes spotted another tragedy yet to take place. A figure with flashing eyes and glaring fangs was in the process of murdering a young woman. I stood from a distance knowing I had to make a quick decision. I then rushed toward him, drew my sword and off came his head with the rest of his body disintegrating in the rain. At that moment I came to the conclusion that it was God's will for me to protect the innocent as long as my years endured.

I spent the next seven years vanquishing those who sought to strike fear in the hearts of many until one day I drew attention from an unlikely source."

"Nathaniel Abrams."

"Yes. I was contacted by a member of the leadership council of Neo Elysium who requested my services for Abrams. I eventually met Abrams who offered me $4million for each target on his hit list. I accepted the job, but I denied a payroll. My first target was the state senator for California and the leader of Dark Coven named Grendel Mohr. I descended upon his residence breaking through armed resistance but before I took him out the police soon arrived. On another occasion I tracked him down as he was riding with other associates. This time I was successful only in taking off his ear. However, I was able to have other successes in eliminating 15 leaders of fifteen groups. The fact that no vampire or vampire hunter was able to put me to death enabled me to gain unexpected popularity among many within Neo Elysium; popularity that was unaccepted by Abrams. Those who admired me went so far as to establish me as the new leader of the group. Although I insisted I wanted no part of it Abrams was convinced that I wanted to put an end to his seemingly fragile leadership. One day Abrams sent me on assignment with three members of Neo Elysium's leadership council. As we were driving downtown of Los Angeles the car suddenly exploded. I was able to walk away from the car's burning remains but the other occupants had already perished. I came to the conclusion that someone had made on an attempt on my life. There was only one I held responsible: Nathaniel Abrams. I believed that he set me up to make sure that I was no longer a threat to his leadership. The three members of Neo Elysium were among those who sought to elevate me to leadership of the group. Through their deaths Abrams wanted all within his group to know that disloyalty was unacceptable. The following night I sought revenge but when I descended among his headquarters he was already gone. I soon discovered that he fled the city should I return for him. I would not see him again for six years."

"He told me that _you_ were the one who betrayed him. He said _you_ were the one who started killing off members of his group."

"Lies, nothing but lies. He was the one killing his own associates. He'd burn them in a large furnace he had built near the steel mills of Los Angeles. He intended to strike fear in the hearts of those who opposed him. He was so desperate that he had resorted to brutality and untruths."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I just met him at this club a few weeks ago."

"As of now, Anna, Nathaniel Abrams is the least of your worries. I collected his fucking last night." I was shocked when I heard that. To think I was just talking to him face to face a few weeks before. "I almost forgot," Mina continued. "He along with many others mentioned an alliance between humans and vampires. You haven't answered my question. Is there an alliance or not?"

"It's not true," I said after a slight pause. "I was just investigating recent sighting and killings that involved you. I used different aliases to find out from every single vampire group. They all talked about how you were worshipped like a God by this group called Dragon's Temple and how you drink vampire blood."

"I see," Mina said with a nod. "The Dragon's Temple is a cult that comprises of humans living the vampire lifestyle."

"What?"

"Its members are made of those who believe that the human race is seriously flawed and the vampires would make the world a better place. They engage in rituals that involve drinking each other's blood and human sacrifices. The reason they worship me is because they believe I am a modern incarnation of Count Dracula. They attempt to contact me through their rituals because they want me to become the leader of this world and they believe that I would rid it of crime, sickness, poverty and death. I just choose to ignore them.

February 1st, 1902, while I was still walking in this eternal frigid temple I met Phillip Mason, Richard Blair and Anthony Wright, members of The Opened Pits. They assumed that I was an ordinary vampire and sought to make me their member. I thought I had no one else to turn to so I gladly accepted their offer. I spent the next two years with The Opened Pits living my new life as a vampire preying upon the humans I emerged from. From my perspective there was no hope for me and I was doomed to being a murderer. One night we descended upon a peaceful neighborhood in Liverpool where we broke into homes and killed innocents. At this one home I shocked to discover that we had invaded the life of woman who was seven months pregnant. I pleaded with them to spare her life which resulted in a debate that lasted for five minutes. It only ended when Mason drove his fangs into her neck killing her. We all left the house with me in a state of shock. I couldn't believe what had transpired. I should've stopped them but at the same time I wanted to prove my loyalty. That woman would die in thirty minutes but mostly I thought of her baby. Even though the young would-be mother would soon live among the vampire race there was no hope for her unborn child. Her child died as soon as she died. I've realized something from this experience: I had a conscience and pity for a human, two things I never thought I would have as a vampire.

The deaths of the young mother and her child had affected since then. I started to have second thoughts of The Opened Pits. I never joined to kill children. The same children I taught in my days as assistant head mistress. One night in the summer of 1905, I joined with Mason, Blair and Wright for another kill. This time it was Charles Ford, a member of the British Parliament. We were to ambush him as he was being chauffeured in his carriage in downtown London at exactly 12:15 a.m. The specific reasons for targeting this man reminded me too much of the aspirations of Count Dracula. We waited at the specific route Ford would take to his residence. As his carriage approached us Blair killed the coachman and Mason, Wright and I stormed the carriage. To our astonishment, particularly mine, the carriage contained a woman and two children, presumably the family of Charles Ford. Wright charged them but I halted his advance and pulled his body out of the coach and in turn helped make an escape for the lady and her children. When they escaped I was berated by Mason, Wright and Blair for my obvious disloyalty to The Opened Pits. I insisted that as long as I was with them there would be no killing of women and children. They, in turn, rebutted saying that I was not the leader and therefore do not make the rules. Mason was the leader of The Opened Pits and his rules were simple: show no mercy; just kill. Mason then moved on to teach me the price for disloyalty. I was well aware of his disapproval for disloyalty. One time he killed one member of the group who was suspected of being a look out for a rival group by having his body chopped to pieces and set on fire. In the blink of an eye he grabbed my throat and proceeded to choke me. I was close to the last of my breaths when I suddenly made the decision to defend myself. I grabbed hold unto Mason's choking hand and broke his arm and then I did the unthinkable. I drove my fangs into his teeth and started to drink his blood. At the same time his body started to wrinkle greatly. As I drank his blood I felt every inch of his life leave his body. I didn't stop until he stopped struggling and I allowed him to drop limp on the ground. Wright and Blair were horrified at what I did. I myself could not believe what I had just done. No vampire had ever done what I did. This didn't stop Blair from charging at me. I grabbed him and sucked his body dry of his cold blood. Wright attempted to escape but I jumped on him and drank his blood, thus killing him. At that moment I discovered my first power: I could easily take the life of a vampire the same way I take the life of a human. This is the one true power against the vampire race. In fact, I can recall Dracula having the same power when he used it on a disloyal follower. To discover that I have adopted this power from him made me resent myself even more. At that moment I had decided to break away from the Open Pits, but it would not be long before I had met Todo Hotsumi. I hate drinking vampire blood as much as I hate drinking human blood, but it could be a convenient killing method against the vampire. No other has that ability."

"Todo Hotumi gave me flash drive with a memo on your whereabouts. That's how I met father Arnold. Why do you think he would do that?"

"He has great admiration and respect for The Van Helsing Clan. He believes with all his heart that contacting you was a great alternative to all his failed attempts against me. You must be weary of the tricks of the enemy. I have a confession to make. Do you recall an incident three weeks ago involving a girl was being raped by four vampires?"

"Oh, God. Please don't tell me it's all over the news already."

"No it isn't. The girl kept her promise and didn't tell anyone."

"Wait a minute, how did you know?"

"The truth is I set up the whole scenario. When I first heard of a young lady searching for me I wanted to see if she was a vampire hunter worthy to an eventful confrontation. I tracked you down based on the descriptions given to me from other vampires. I then contacted four members of this vampire group that operated on the streets. I knew specifically what victim to choose. The girl, fourteen years old, would spend countless hours at night going to parties and acting very recklessly. She'd often take this route to her home in downtown Los Angeles around 12:15 midnight. That was also the time the four handpicked by me would be most active. If you didn't noticed that she was being raped I would've have to save her myself. I must say you are the most disciplined vampire hunter I've ever known. The others I've met in the past were just reckless and had no sense of dignity and honor. I must confess that I had a deep sense of guilt over what I've done. I had to receive twenty Hail Marys from Father Arnold."

"You were testing me?"

"Yes. I had hoped to contact you somehow so we may eventually work together the same way I have done with your relatives."

"Why do you wanna work with me?"

"Because I believe that you along with a committed few can eradicate the memory of Dracula completely. It will not be over by tomorrow but you and the other generation must carry the fight for centuries to come. The vampire will grow in his numbers but you must also grow in your skills and your intelligence. I will do my best but you make up the bulk of those who will eventually destroy Dracula's long lasting legacy. Do not do it for me. Do it for the sake of your kind's existence for it is on the brink of extinction."

I was impressed. I got the impression that she really wanted me and the others to do what we did best and she had no objections. I did, however, thought she was in denial that she was a vampire herself. I thought she didn't get the fact that there was no way she break away from her condition and that it was possible that she would always remain a vampire. Despite all this I saw Mina Harker as a formidable ally in the fight against vampires. "I'm honored," I said. "How do you think you could help?"

"First of all, no one, not one vampire hunter or vampire is to know that we've met," Mina said.

"Okay," I said.

"Secondly, I will lay low and do what I can while you extend your hunt beyond Los Angeles."

"What do mean "beyond Los Angeles"".

"You must not and should not confine you tasks in this city. As we speak Cassius Reid is planning an all out assault on San Francisco in the same manner as Demitri Mann. His base of operations is in San Diego but his group operates in splintered cells in the United States. He is not only one. I can tell you who the others are but I am afraid that we must end this meeting."

"You're gonna let me go? But aren't you gonna tell about the others."

"Don't fret; you will gain your information sooner than you think. The most important requirement in your task is to call upon God for assistance. Trust me; it will be convenient in the most troubling times." In Mina's left hand was a dart gun which meant one thing: she was going to knock me out unconscious. "You'll feel a sharp sting," Harker said walking towards me with the gun. "But the pain will be gone when you awake."

"Wait!" I said. "Will I ever see you again?"

"That must be the least of your worries. I exist now only in your memories. But you must take you fight against the vampire to every state and every nation. May the Lord bless you and keep you, Anna Van Helsing." With those words Mina pointed the dart gun to my neck and pulled the trigger. I felt a sharp sting that went to my brain and in ten seconds everything turned into a blur and suddenly there was darkness.

I suddenly feel a cold chill on my back. I try to open my eyes but all I see is a blur. My ears pick up the sound of car horns blaring a couple feet away. I have such a hangover. My head was spinning and I can barely open my eyes. I try one more time and I discover my location. I look up to see the bridge connecting from East to West L.A. I then looked at my right and found a long river. I was back in the streets. I then realized that I was in back in the trench coat I wore earlier. The next thing I discovered that Mina Harker was no where to be found. I started to get up and walk towards the road. Cars were passing at my left and then this one car was driving right next to me. I recognized this car. It was a black 1966 Dodge Charger. It was a car driven by Danny. The car pulled up in front of me and Danny jumped out and ran towards me. "Annie," Danny said. "Thank God. C'mon." He led me to the passenger seat in front and we all drove off to Downtown Los Angeles.

"What the fuck are you doing out this hour?" Danny said. I looked at my watch and realized it was 3:15 in the morning. I couldn't let him know about my encounter with Mina Harker or let him know that I was looking for her for almost three months. "What? I couldn't sleep. Big deal," I said.

"Well you're clear for the next two days. We gotta get ready to take down another bloodsucker's ass on Thursday." I laid my head against the window and closed my eyes. Then I had a thought. "How did you find me?" I asked Danny.

"Did you notice a little pain in your right arm last Sunday?" Danny said. "You were starting to piss me off when you didn't show up for five hunts. When you slept on that stake out I gave you a V16." The V16 was a microscopic tracing device that had to be injected in the bloodstream. It burns the following day and passes the day after. I did notice some incomprehensible burning in my right arm the following Monday. "You mean to tell me that you were tracking me down all this time?" I said.

"Hey, I can't let anything happen to my baby sister," Danny said. That Danny; He was a real prick sometimes but I loved him to death. I laid back head against the window and tried to take a nap. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my trench coat. Suddenly my fingers came into contact with a small object in my right pocket. I pulled it out and discovered that it was a flash drive. I was confused. I was certain that I didn't carry the flash drive from Todo Hotusumi with me. I asked Danny for his HP Compaq TC 1100 tablet PC that he always carried with him. He pointed to the back seat and I reached for the bag that he kept it in. Once I had it I turned it on and placed the flash drive in the USB. I opened it and discovered that it contained 20,000 files containing on many vampire groups probably more than what Emma gave me. I spotted this one particular file that contained info on Cassius Reid. This was the same Cassius Reid Mina was talking about. At that moment I came to the conclusion that I acquired the info that Mina had promised me. "What's that?" Danny said.

"Oh, just little investigation I did," I said. "Danny, I think we need to expand our fight."

"What're you talking about?"

"I think we need to hunt these motherfuckers outside California. We can't keep confining our operations in this city while those suck heads gain the upper hand elsewhere." Danny took his eyes off the road and gave me this stunned look. "Are you shitting me?" He said. "You mean you want to go all across America and around the world? We don't have enough resources and finances for that."

"C'mon, Danny," I said. "Our ancestors didn't kill vampires in just one place. Why do you think we have distant cousins in places like England and Holland? We're standing on the brink of extinction here. We gotta at least try." Danny breathed a heavy sigh and gave it a little thought. "God, I swear you're going crazy," Danny said.

"Whaddya say?" I said.

"Well, Abe Van Helsing didn't just look for ghosts in the attic, so what the hell?" I was certain that meant that he would give it a try. As we drove down that road I looked out the window hoping that somehow I would catch one last glimpse of Mina Harker. She was no where to be found; not on the road or the rooftops. I was certain that she vanished without a trace. I then thought about the past journey that I had embarked. I had a fair share of hardships and heartache along the way. I placed myself in the greatest dangers no one would ever put themselves in. The main question for me at that moment was "was it all worth it?" I could say beyond a reasonable doubt: yes. I saw another face of my enemy. Something that was convenient in my fight against him. I saw how the enemy thinks and moves. Those interviews in of themselves showed me the kind of personality that the enemy possessed. It was very clear to me that a vampire has only one thing on his twisted mind: ruling the Earth. This world was created for the humans; not for shit heads like the bloodsuckers. I did, however saw a rather softer side of my enemy. I realized that the enemy could be emotionally vulnerable and under great anxiety. I also discovered that he could love; something I never thought possible for a vampire. I realized that the vampire still have traits of humanity. It was long and hard road I had ahead of me in this fight. It was certainly not over. I then thought what a friend somebody would have in someone like Mina Harker; probably the only girl who knows about vampire hunting and vampires at best. Despite the fact that she was a vampire more than a hundred years of age trapped in the body of a seventeen year old girl she had the maturity of a full grown woman. She had such wisdom, wisdom I wish I had and I was able to relate to her on some levels. I too lost both of my parents and I was trapped in the life of vampire hunter. Above all, I saw her as a formidable ally in this fight. Perhaps we would meet again. Maybe that time the world would be at peace and the human race would be able to define the word hero when they look at Mina Harker.

**The End**

_**For all those who were offended by the level of profanity in this story, I'm very sorry. I wanted to give a sense of realism in my story. Please read and review. Tell me what you think of this story. And stay tuned. In one week I'll start to write another story that features The Bride of Dracula herself! **_


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